Comments on: Reference Question of the Week – 1/27/07 http://www.swissarmylibrarian.net/2008/02/02/reference-question-of-the-week-12707/ or, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Fear and Loathing at a Public Library Reference Desk Mon, 20 May 2013 23:17:40 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 By: Brian Herzog http://www.swissarmylibrarian.net/2008/02/02/reference-question-of-the-week-12707/#comment-357 Brian Herzog Mon, 04 Feb 2008 23:50:40 +0000 http://www.swissarmylibrarian.net/?p=246#comment-357 Honestly, I’m not sure – I may have misstated the question. I told the patrons, as in the post above, that I didn’t personally know much about this topic. But they knew exactly what they were looking for, so the process of finding it was definitely a collaborative one.

To double-check what we were looking at, we compared what they wanted from a couple issues of the Boston Globe that the library did have to the corresponding dates on the website, and they matched. If I mis-described what it was, then that was my fault.

I am far from an expert in any field, so while I’m always willing to help someone find information, I also leave it to them to interpret it – and in this case, I trusted that the patrons knew what they were talking about, even if I confused it after the fact.

]]> By: another librarian http://www.swissarmylibrarian.net/2008/02/02/reference-question-of-the-week-12707/#comment-356 another librarian Mon, 04 Feb 2008 16:54:38 +0000 http://www.swissarmylibrarian.net/?p=246#comment-356 Hi. We are a couple of librarians who noticed your post and are horrified that you think this is the correct answer.
If the gentlemen were looking for what they paid for their own mortgage loan, this is an unknowable thing unless they told you the terms of their particular mortgage. It could vary based on the loan balance, their credit, and other factors. The government does NOT set mortgage rates; they are set by the market.
The 30 year interest rates you are seeing are for interest paid on a 30 year treasury bond. This number will probably be quite a bit lower than a mortgage rate. It is possible that the gentlemen’s mortgage was based on the current treasury bill or prime lending rate + a certain percentage, but you didn’t say that was the case here. If they thought that tne 30 year number you gave them was their actual interest rate they will be working with very erroneous assumptions. Also, the conventional mortage (weekly) rate at the bottom of this page might be helpful, but would not indicate what they paid for thier own loan. Either you didn’t explain the question correctly, or you gave them the wrong information.
But this IS a good source for historical rates set by the government. We use it all the time.

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