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Reference from Coast to Coast - Searches and Strategies

By Sue Taylor, Published on January 15, 1999
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(Archived February 15, 1999)

Secondary Sources Shine
Welcome to Reference From Coast to Coast: Sources and Strategies, a new monthly column written by the KMZ librarians. Headquartered in Chicago, Katten Muchin & Zavis has reference librarians in Washington DC, Chicago and Los Angeles. There are eight professional librarians who are assisted by a great support staff. The KMZ librarians field questions and participate in research in a myriad of subject areas. This column will highlight some of our favorite reference sources and research techniques in the hope that sharing information  will help you in your day to day jobs. We welcome all of your comments and questions, and would particularly like feedback on sources and strategies that YOU use for research on our column topics. 

Please send comments to Sue Taylor, at staylor@kmz.com.

 Q - Locate an address and phone number for the dislocation worker unit of several states.

A - I thought this would be easy as I have access to many state directories. However, once I discovered that "dislocation worker unit" is from the federal Job Training Partnership Act and not the name of a state agency, I was stuck. Under WARN (the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act), also know as plant closings, written notice must be provided to "the state dislocated worker unit designated or created under the Job Training Partnership Act.

I turned to West's Employment Coordinator, which not only has an index entry under each state for "dislocated worker unit," but also reprints the complete Department of Labor list of names, addresses and phone numbers of state entities designated as dislocated worker units. The Employment Coordinator also has some helpful recommendations in preparing the notifications.

Q - Locate the anti-indemnity statute for a particular state.

A - My search of the state code, using both online text and index, only uncovered references to indemnification and none seemed applicable. There were no references to "anti-indemnity." I then turned to a great set of books entitled Subject Compilations of State Laws, by Cheryl Nyberg. There is an index entry under "indemnity" which led to an appendix in a law review entitled "Anti-Broad Form Indemnity Statutes Through 1995." The state I was researching was listed as "no statute."

However, since I still needed to know whether any legislation was enacted after 1995, I went to my favorite online database, Westlaw's "Texts and Periodicals" (TP-ALL). I started with a very direct and narrow search including the term "anti-indemnity."  This quick search revealed a 1998 ALI-ABA Course of Study Materials with Appendix A- "Anti-Indemnity Statutes." Although it listed the state I was researching as also having "no statute," my attorney was thrilled to receive this list as he is now interested in additional states. Cheryl Nyberg informs me that she will include this reference in her next update.