4
Determining Standards Information Literacy Needs
INTRODUCTION
Information literacy as defined by the American Library Association (ALA) is “the set of integrated abilities encompassing the reflective discovery of information, the understanding of how information is produced and valued, and the use of information in creating new knowledge and participating ethically in communities of learning” [1]. The development of information literacy skills in science, engineering, technology, and professional disciplines is challenging due to the large variety of information sources available, the diversity of publishers, and the application of information within their fields. This is especially true for grey literature that is produced outside of the traditional academic publishing system. Grey literature requires a deeper understanding of this type of information along with the knowledge of the agency or organization publishing the information. Standards are considered one example of grey literature.
Technical standards embody critical information that engineering and professional practitioners are required to apply in their activities to secure the success of their enterprises. The increased globalization and worldwide trade make knowledge of standards and standardization even more crucial. In turn, developing standards information literacy is of major significance for engineering and professional students.
STANDARDS INFORMATION LITERACY
Identifying the technical standards knowledge and skill set needed by students at graduation has been of interest for more than a decade. In 2003, the Standards Education Task Force within IEEE surveyed students and faculty to identify the state of standards education in academic programs. As a result, the task force recommended that, at minimum, students should [2]:
- develop a basic understanding of the standardization process, the impact of standards, and how standards are beneficial to the global economy;
- become familiar with the key standards organization in their discipline; and
- learn how to identify relevant standards and utilize them in engineering design.
In 2009, the IEEE University Outreach Program continued the investigation into how to facilitate standards education in academia and reported [3]:
- the differences between the standards needs of undergraduates and graduate students;
- academic institutions may take various approaches to teach about standards; and
- the differences between how various countries conduct standards education.
This study confirmed the list of basic technical standards knowledge identified previously and added that students should develop an understanding of the role technology, economics, and politics play in standards development, learn to think critically about standardization, and recognize the impact standards have on innovation.
Building on these two studies, a later survey identified the benchmark practices in teaching technical standards and concluded that faculty prefer that standards education be integrated into the curriculum as coursework, assignments, case studies, lectures, industry expert visits, and so forth, and not standalone courses. The faculty also were interested in offering the students opportunities to practice standards identification, retrieval, and evaluation [4].
These recommendations align perfectly with the definition of information literacy from the Association of College and Research Libraries Information Literacy Framework:
- Understanding of how information is produced and valued
- Understand the type of information found in standards and its value
- Understand the standardization process
- Understand standards benefits to the global economy and society
- Discovery of information
- Identify standards relevant to a specific project
- Learn about key standards developing organizations (SDOs) in their discipline
- Learn about standards resources
- Locate standards
- Use of information in creating new knowledge
- Learn about the different standards sections and their purpose
- Be cognizant of the language used in standards
A short but comprehensive introduction to technical standards that includes the definitions, types, and benefits of standards could address the understanding of how standards are produced and their value. However, developing skills in locating, evaluating, and using standards call for more training and opportunities for practice [4].
DISCOVERY OF INFORMATION
Identification of Relevant Standards
If the course requires students to use standards for a project or assignment, the first step in incorporating technical standards information literacy is to help the students identify the relevant standards. The awareness of the existence and applicability of codes and standards to a course project ensures the quality and safety of the final course product and can be passed on to stakeholders. When identifying standards, it is important to remind students that compliance with industry standards is voluntary in the United States; however, noncompliance with standards and codes may result in products being recalled, rejected, or fined by regulators, interoperability issues with products, or the inability to use completed products. Noncompliance may also result in accidents, illness, or property damage with grave consequences for companies.
During the research portion of the course project, the students identify the stakeholders’ requirements and develop a solid understanding of the problem to be solved. The research stage should include searching for patents, applicable codes, and technical standards along with other types of literature. Identifying standards and codes early on in the research process can save time and money by facilitating market access and acceptance, secure production flexibility and manufacturing responsiveness, and improve quality. Standards are applicable at every stage of the engineering design process, from engineering drawings to quality management, as seen in the example in Figure 4.1.
Having students talk with stakeholders or an experienced professional in the field will provide them with a list of codes and standards applicable to a specific project. When this approach is not possible, there are several different pathways to identify the applicable standards.
One pathway is to check government agencies to identify the major applicable regulations. The Code of Federal Regulations (CFR, ecfr.io) lists all governmental regulations adopted in the United States. Additionally, each government agency may have its own list of regulations such as the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC, (www.cpsc.gov/Regulations-Laws--Standards), the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), or the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). For a more comprehensive list, see the list of standards issued or adopted by federal agencies maintained by the National Institute of Technology (NIST, sibr.nist.gov) or the American National Standards Institute (ANSI, ibr.ansi.org). When unsure about what agency to use, a good starting point may be ANSI’s Standards Packages (web store.ansi.org/packages/all) or Selected Standards lists (webstore.ansi. org/industry/selected-standards), which group relevant standards by industries. Another similar list is ANSI’s Directory of Standards Organizations (www.standardsportal.org/usa_en/resources/sdo.aspx). Accessing these lists may help identify the major standards organizations’ publishing standards for a specific industry. Then, applicable standards can be identified by checking the list of standards published by that specific SDO.
FIG. 4.1. Standards applicability to engineering design process example.
For standards that are international in scope and participation, a good starting point is searching one of the well-known international SDOs: the International Organization for Standardization (ISO, www.iso.org), the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC, www.iec.ch/homepage), or the International Telecommunication Union (ITU, www.itu.int/en/Pages/default.aspx), as applicable to the product in question.
Military standards can be found using ASSIST Quick Search (qsSearch.aspx), a searchable database of full-text defense and federal specifications and standards published by the Department of Defense.
Another pathway is to do a topic or keyword search on the Internet or use one of the third-party standards stores such as Techstreet, IHS Markit, SAI Global Standards Infobase, or ANSI webstore. These platforms are free to access and search, and will provide a short description of the content to help readers determine the usefulness of a particular standard. However, access to a standard’s full text is possible for a fee. When searching using keywords, it is always good practice to consider the synonyms or phrases relevant to the product and build effective strategies to refine your search.
Yet another pathway to finding technical standards is to check for similar products and identify standards used in the design process. This pathway may not result in a comprehensive list of applicable standards, but it will give an idea of where to start. The selection of applicable standards for a product is complicated by overlaps between various SDOs that may develop standards independently [5].
When unsure where to start when identifying technical standards, students should reach out to their engineering librarians/information specialists at their institutional library or the course faculty/instructors. A tool that can be helpful for students is an information guide (LibGuide) that includes links to institution-specific technical standards collections and can be a resource for students throughout their projects.
Access to Standards
The next step when incorporating information literacy into a course is teaching the different ways technical standards are accessed. The first sources to check for standards access are the library catalogs and resources, either in print or electronic format. Libraries may also offer on-demand purchasing services for standards with Techstreet or IHS, allowing individual access to selected standards based on price and availability.
Some standards organizations give free read-only or limited access to their standards. The NIST maintains the list of these organizations and is made available on the www.standards.gov portal.
Standards incorporated by reference in the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations are available as free read-only and listed in specialized databases: ANSI Incorporated by Reference (IBR) Portal (ibr.ansi.org) and NIST Standards Incorporated by Reference (SIBR) Database (sibr.nist.gov).
If the full text is still not found, the last resort is the standards developing organization website or the authorized standards stores since most standards may be purchased in electronic form or hard copy from these sites. For additional information on accessing standards, please refer to Chapter 5.
USE OF INFORMATION IN CREATING NEW KNOWLEDGE
Once technical standards have been identified and located, the next step is to help the student or patron to understand the information included in this information type. The application of the knowledge included in the standard should be interpreted by the individual and their specific project needs. Standards have a unique structure and language characteristics intended to help understand the requirements and specifications included in the text and aid with its implementation. Therefore, preexisting knowledge of the structural elements and language characteristics facilitates understanding.
Standards follow a clear structure that makes it easy to distinguish between the various informative and normative sections; however, it is important to note that the exact structure can vary among standards developing organizations. The informative elements provide the context and scope along with additional components that help determine the applicability of a standard. Normative elements are written to eliminate ambiguity, and include the requirements to be implemented and provide the details of what exactly needs to be done when implementing the standard. Documents include verbal forms that allow for easy identification of the requirements mandated and distinguish these from other types of recommendations, permissions, possibilities, and capabilities. To avoid misinterpretations of technical standards, only the widely accepted verbal forms are used; however, both standards structure and language are dynamic, and changes are made over time [6].
STRUCTURE OF A STANDARD
Informative Elements
Designation and title—indicative of the issuing SDO, year of adoption or revision, and the applicability of a standard. A standard is recognized by its designation, which includes the acronym of the issuing body, a number and date of publication, and a title. For example: ASTM F1568 - 08 Standard Specification for Food Processors, Electric. In this example, the issuing body is the ASTM. The “08” at the end of the number refers to the date of adoption or revision, and it is followed by the title of the standard.
Foreword—describes the content of the standard and gives information on the standard development. It also details the developing process, stating the organization responsible for publishing the document, the committee that developed the document, the procedures and rules under which the document was developed, the voting process, legal disclaimers, and relationships between the present document and other documents.
Introduction—provides specific information or commentary about the document’s technical content and the reasons for its preparation. This section is optional.
Scope—provides a succinct and factual statement of the document’s purpose. This may include what the document does (specifies, establishes, gives guidelines, defines, provides), the subject of the document, and the aspects covered. This section is important to understand before continuing to read the standard as it helps determine the applicability of a standard or particular parts of it to the product at hand.
Normative references—list of referenced standards, where some or all their content constitutes requirements for the document. Information on how these references apply is found in the place where they are cited in the document and not in the normative references clause.
Terms and definitions—provide definitions necessary for the understanding of certain terms used in the document.
Normative Elements
Clauses and subclauses—serve as the basic components of the content/what needs to be implemented, all the details.
VERBAL EXPRESSIONS
Language is critical to the unambiguous understanding of the provisions in a standard. Terminology definitions included in the informative section ensure a common understanding of the main concepts used in the document. Verbal hints used throughout the entire content further help to identify and distinguish the provisions of a standard.
The provisions in a standard are an “expression in the content of a normative document that takes the form of a statement, an instruction, a recommendation, or a requirement” [7]:
Requirements do not allow deviation from the claims in the standard. To facilitate easy identification, requirements use verbal expressions such as “shall” or “shall not.”
Recommendations include the expressions “should,” “should not,” or a similar phrase to suggest that the claim allows for some degree of deviation.
Permissions includes the expressions of “may” to convey consent or liberty to do something.
Possibility and capability include the expressions “can” or “cannot.” Possibility refers to the expected outcomes and/or qualities. Capability refers to the ability to do or achieve a specified thing.
SUMMARY
Studies identified technical standards education topics for undergraduate and graduate students. These topics align with the information literacy concepts; however, as the process of identification, access, and effective use of relevant standards is more complex and more difficult than for other types of information, students benefit from technical standards education integration into the academic curriculum.
REFERENCES
- 1 Association of College and Research Libraries, “Framework for information literacy for higher education,” 2015.
- 2 A. S. Khan, A. Karim, and J. A. McClain, “The state of the use of standards in engineering and technology education,” presented at the ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, Conference Proceedings, 2013.
- 3 B. Harding, “Lessons from professors: What the IEEE learned from global university outreach,” presented at the ICES 2011 Workshop, Hangzhou, China, Jun. 27, 2011. https://www.standardsuniversity.org/course/lessons-from-professors-what-the-ieee-learned-from-global-university-outreach (accessed Dec. 15, 2021).
- 4 S. I. Rooney and J. S. Stephens-Epps, “Incorporating engineering standards throughout the biomedical engineering curriculum,” presented at the ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, Conference Proceedings, 2019.
- 5 A. S. Khan and A. Karim, “Importance of standards in engineering and technology education,” International Journal of Educational and Pedagogical Sciences, 10(3), 2016, pp. 1050–1054.
- 6 N. Abdelkafi, R. Bolla, C. J. Lanting, A. Rodriguez-Ascaso, M. Thuns, and M. Wetterwald, Understanding ICT standardization: principles and practices, ETSI, 2018.
- 7 ISO/IEC, “ISO/IEC directives, part 2, principles and rules for the structure and drafting of ISO and IEC documents,” 2021.
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