Patents and Standards

These two types of sources of information mostly belong to the literature of Science and Technology- Patent specifications are referred to as patents. A patent is a legal document by which a designated authority gives to the owner of an invention the exclusive rights to use or sell it. Patent specifications are significant in various industrial/special libraries which collect them in their fields of interest.

Standards are common to all human enterprises. They are promulgated by government departments, a wide range of non-governmental institutions, and many professional associations. The standards are published by the independent standards institutions and government departments to regulate the manufacture and design of specific goods, and to assure uniformity in size, quality, shape and methods of manufacture.