366 GOVERNMENT INFORMATION QUARTERLY Vol. g/No. 311992
The Federal Budget: A Guide to Process and Principal Publications. By Edward Herman. Ann
Arbor, MI: Pierian Press, 1991. 220~. ISBN o-87650-292-3. $25.00
Reviewed by David Barber*
Budget impasses, compromises, Federal deficits, and a possible peace dividend have been
among the many political phenomena that have kept media attention focused on the Federal
budget in recent years. Despite the encouragement this environment would seem to provide
to potential researchers and concerned citizens, however, little research seems to result. Few
patrons use Federal budget and financial documents compared to other sources on comparably
newsworthy topics. This is doubtless because of the complexities of the budget process, and
its documentation.
Herman’s guide attempts to remove some of the barriers that stand between researchers
and the budget. The guide discusses ‘I... how information is located in the federal budget,
and how related materials published by executive agencies, Congress, non-governmental
sources are located.” “ Emphasis is placed upon interpreting what the datum means, and in
some cases, what it does not mean.”
The Federal Budget is a valuable source of assistance for researchers who need help in the
interpretation of the contents of the principle financial documents of the Executive Branch.
Thus, documents can be easily identified in the index which will then refer readers to locations
in the text where those documents are discussed. In the text, tables from many of the Executive
Branch documents are reproduced, and the background information needed by readers to
interpret their data is given.
Although similar treatment is not given to congressional documents, related congressional
documents and non-partisan documents are noted. These documents are also identified in the
chapter on reference sources.
The Federal Budget has value to people wanting a more indepth introduction to Federal
budget concepts, but do not desire to read a text on the subject. Each chapter discusses an
area of Federal finance, such as revenues, budget functions, or Federal debt, and can be used
as a brief introduction to that subject area.
Although nominally a guide to the Federal budget process, readers should not expect T&e
FederuE Budget to describe the political budget process. Herman distinguishes his book from
the more common decision-making or politically-based examinations of the budget. The
“process” in the title of this book refers to brief descriptions of the processes behind such data
as expenditures by object classification.
A shortcoming of this book is its index. It limits its value as a method for quickly identifying
documents with information on particular subjects. Index entries are usually either very
general, such as is the case of “expenditures by agencies” which has a large number of pages
indicated, very technical (as is the nature of accounting terminology), such as “sequestration,” or they indicate the titles of particular publications. No “see” references are provided to link technical index entries with common terminology.
Despite this shortcoming, The Federal Budget is a valuable reference source. For people
in need of assistance in the interpretation of executive financial documents, or in need of a
brief introduction to budget concepts, it will provide a useful source of assistance.
* David Barber is Documents Reference Librarian, Documents Department at the University of Oregon Library, Eugene, Oregon 97403.