THE OUTPUT AND AVAILABILITY OF INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS: THE UK PERSPECTIVE

International standards are produced and made available by a variety of organizations, some with worldwide authority and others with a special geographical or subject responsibility. They are usually referred to in the literature by code number and it is necessary to understand these codes before trying to locate the standards. A number of on‐line data bases are concerned solely with, or include, standards. In the UK collections of standards are maintained by the larger public libraries, some academic libraries and in research organizations. By far the best collection is at the British Standards Institute which also provides a first‐class information service.