ALERT! Use Rosetta Stone via the Library for Language Learning?

Well no longer Rosetta Stone is dropping their library subscription program and the Albuquerque/Bernallillo County Library's one expires at the end of July. That means that if you are using the library for learning a language you have to purchase their software or find alternatives.

I found this out this weekend at the fair after talking to the representatives from the library. This came as a huge blow when our finances are so low because my oldest has been using this online program for 4 years now and is in the middle of learning Japanese.

This was not announced in any way other than Rosetta Stone has very visibly bumped up their ads on TV and in print. So for those that use this program around the country it will come as a shock when they try to log in and do not have access.

Deals for software for all three levels of a language is only 5 payments of $100 each. You can get one level for 5 payments of $50-60 each. I do understand this is a purely business decision why give everyone access through the library when they can charge but how many families do you know that can afford this for EACH language they want to learn? Why not just charge a small monthly access fee or sell materials that go along with each language? Why in when US test scores and multi language learning is lagging behind other nations WHY drop this program entirely? Is the bottom line really ALWAYS about money? This company is the one who provides for the federal government and a majority of schools, are they really losing money on the library program--our tax dollars were paying for a subscription the library itself was not getting it for free.

So what did I do in my post-fair exhaustion? I decided to call and ask, who better to find out the reasons why then the source?! It was explained to me that they are dropping the database subscriptions for libraries that their patrons use at home, basically that libraries can still subscribe (for exhorbitant fees for each language) but only to individual languages and we would not be able to use it at home.

BUT not to worry the Albquerque/Bernalillo Library system has been in touch with other libraries around the country to see what they have done. You can expect to see Auralog to become the new way to learn languages through the library. I do not know exactly which languages or the details (such as being able to use it from home) but I will send along more information as I get it in, for now you can check out the company www.Auralog.com . They seem to appeal to a lot of different learning styles and will cover grammar as well for their languages, which Rosetta Stone did not. And this will be another free service through the Library system as long as you have a library card.

Have you ever checked out their Digital Databases--they are a WEALTH of information to add to your homeschool resources:
http://www.cabq.gov/library/ on the left side of the page are Digital Databases.

If you are not in the Albuquerque/Bernalillo area please conact your library to see what they are doing to replace Rosetta Stone-or if they have language learning at all as a resource!