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.