Engineering

ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers) Refsheet

The main publications of ASME are journal articles (contained in ASME journals), conference papers (contained in ASME conference proceedings), and ASME standards. The University Libraries subscribes to the ASME journals and conference proceedings. We do not subscribe to ASME standards, but we do have copy of the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code.

Retrieving known documents

If you have citation information for a specific document, use the following procedure to retrieve the full text.

1. Check for online availability through the ASME Digital Library . ASME is continually increasing the amount of material available online.
2. If the material is not online, you may request the document from Interlibrary Loan. If we have the item in our collection, Interlibrary Loan will scan the item and send it to you as a PDF. If we do not have the document in our collection, Interlibrary Loan will seek it from another university and when found, will send it to you electronically.
3. If you want to retrieve print format material from our collection, see the sections below, which give details about ASME technical papers, journal articles, and standards.

Searching the ASME literature for documents about a topic

It is generally not good to limit a subject search to only one publisher. Doing so excludes other publishers who have information on the topic. However, if you wish to limit your search to only ASME documents, there are three main ways to search.

1. Documents can be searched directly at the ASME site. The indexing at the ASME does not currently go back further than the 1960’s.
2. Compendex from Engineering Village covers the ASME publications, and began indexing in 1884. It is possible to limit searches to specific publishers or specific journals

Paper indexes also exist for the older papers, including the Seventy-seven year index: technical papers, 1880-1956. The call number is TJ1 A774.

Details about the ASME Technical Papers

The ASME Technical Papers are published by numerous divisions of the ASME. All of these papers have been presented at conferences. Selected technical papers are published in various journals of the ASME.

Until 2002, Virginia Tech received the ASME Technical Papers from two subscriptions: the ASME Technical Papers package and the ASME conference proceedings. The Technical Papers package contained papers presented at conferences which did not have their own published conference proceedings. These divisions, such as GT (Gas Turbine), sent individual conference papers to us which we arranged alphabetically according to the sponsoring division, bound, and placed in the stacks under TJ7 A4 for each year of publication. The conference proceedings subscription contained papers from divisions such as ICE (Internal Combustion Engines), which published their proceedings each year, and which we placed in our collection under various call numbers.

In 2002, the ASME Technical Papers package ceased. From 2003 - 2005, VT received scattered ASME technical papers through our conference proceedings subscription. In 2005 we began receiving all ASME Technical Papers published each year as part of a comprehensive ASME Conference Proceedings plan. In 2013 we began receiving Technical Papers as part of an online ASME package, and ceased getting them in hardcopy.

Because of the various ways we've received the papers there is no single way that the papers can be retrieved from the collection.

One way to search in the catalog is with a title search using the abbreviation of the division followed by the word "series" (e.g., AMD series). Some of the ASME abbreviations used in our catalog are:

• AERO, Aero, AD - Aerospace Engineering Division
• AES - Advanced Energy Systems Division
• AMD - Applied Mechanics Division
• BED - Bioengineering Division
• CRTD - Center for Research and Technology
• DE - Design Engineering Division
• DGP - Diesel and Gas Engine Power
• DSC - Dynamic Systems and Control Division
• EEP - Electrical and Electronic Packaging Division
• EC - Environmental Control
• FACT - Fuels and Combustion Technologies Division
• FED - Fluids Engineering Division
• FPST - Fluid Power Systems and Technology Division
• ICE - Internal Combustion Engine Division
• IGTI - International Gas Turbine Institute
• ISPS - Information Storage & Processing Systems Division
• MD - Materials Division
• MED - Manufacturing Engineering Division
• MH - Materials Handling Engineering Division
• NCA - Noise Control and Acoustics Division
• NDE - Non-Destructive Evaluation Engineering Division
• NE - Nuclear Engineering Division
• PID - Process Industries Division
• PVP - Pressure Vessels and Piping Division
• PWR, Pwr - Power Division
• SERA - Safety Engineering and Risk Analysis Division
• TS - Technology & Society Division
• TRIB - Tribology Division

However, not all papers are listed under the division abbreviation. For these it may also be necessary to search under keywords of the division, along with the keyword asme. For example, an Addison title search on PVP series will retrieve publications up to 2005. A keyword search on pressure vessels ASME will also retrieve the 2006 conference proceedings.

Finally, there are some papers which don't show up anywhere in Addison. For instance, the citations to these papers offer nothing retrievable in Addison:

Werner, Klaus. "Improved gas trubine performance perdiction using a map based fleet analysis." ASME 2001-GT-32.

    or

Cole, Tanya A. "Fishing aid for wheelchair recreation." 98-WA/DE-14.

The clue in both is the paper number. GT stands for Gas Turbine, and WA/DE stands for Winter Annual / Design Engineering. Both of these papers are in the collection at TJ7 A4.

In general, start with a title search using the division abbreviation. If that doesn't work, use a keyword search of the division name along with asme. If that doesn't work, there's a possibility that papers before 2003 are contained in the bound proceedings at TJ7 A4.

Details about the ASME journals

Virginia Tech currently receives all of the ASME journals online. Earlier years of the journals are available in hardcopy. Be aware that the title of these journals may sometimes be listed as Transactions of the ASME. Journal of Tribology... or they may be listed as Journal of Tribology, Transactions of the ASME.

ASME standards

ASME standards are available as a request through Interlibrary Loan. Virginia Tech has the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code in hardcopy in the SciTech Reference collection on the fourth floor.