Standards

Standards are officially approved specifications applicable in various sectors of trade and industry. British Standards Online offers a searchable index to British Standards and access to the full text.

Patents

Patents are an important source of information, much of the material is never published in any other format. There are a number of free resources available via the Internet but for a comprehensive search reference should be made to the Patent Office. The Patent Office site gives information about patents as well as about making patent applications.

Sources of information for patents include:

• British Library Patents Information Services
• US Patent Office full text from 1976
• Esp@cenet (UK site) gives access to the UK and European patents some of which are full text.
• Freepatentsonline search engine