The Association for the Advancement of Blood and Biotherapies (AABB) was formed in 1947 to encourage support and standardization of transfusion practice among the many independent blood centers in the United States. In 1959, AABB published the first edition of the Standards for Blood Banks to promote safety for blood donors, protocols for blood collectors, and guidelines for hospitals transfusing blood. Since then, the AABB mission of vein-to-vein safety has led to an expansion, with eight sets of Standards covering topics ranging from patient blood management to biotherapies and a Spanish language version of the Fundamental Standards for Blood Collection and Transfusion (Table 1).The Standards continue to evolve in response to changes in technology, emerging infectious diseases, new federal regulations, and feedback from AABB members. AABB and TRANSFUSION are launching a new ongoing series highlighting important recent changes to the Standards and explaining why the changes were made. The first in this series will focus on changes that appeared in the 34th edition of the Standards for Blood Banks and Transfusion Services, which became effective April 1, 2024.