Maplewood Library implemented a new system for book reservations

Question

Maplewood Library implemented a new system for book reservations, giving priority to local schoolteachers. Educational consultants believed this approach would more effectively boost Maplewood's role in community engagement and increase its local membership compared to extending its operational hours beyond those of other local libraries.

Which of the following, if true, would best explain why Maplewood was unable to capture a higher share of new schoolteachers signing up for library memberships following the successful implementation of the new reservation system, despite schoolteachers reporting substantial interest in Maplewood’s new system?

A. Libraries in neighboring regions that did not compete directly with Maplewood introduced their own innovative membership drives during the same period.
B. The local teachers' union had mixed feelings about Maplewood’s ability to successfully execute a reservation system that prioritizes their needs.
C. During the period following the implementation of the new system, a globally popular e-reader was launched in the county that served many potential needs of teachers.  
D. Shortly after Maplewood implemented its system, several other local libraries advertised heavy discounts to those who reserved books with them directly.
E. Just before Maplewood introduced the new reservation system, Maplewood’s competitors rebalanced their collection, such that most of them now had a selection similar to Maplewood’s.

thenerdycat · Answer

Can someone explain why it is C over D? Thank you!

LamboWalker · Answer

It is given in the argument that the purpose of implementation of the new project was to give book reservation priority to local schoolteachers. Paradoxically, the new system did not lead to increase in the share of schoolteachers signing up for library membership.

Taking option D:
Local libraries have started handing out heavy discounts to its prospective buyers. However, because there is no priority system in the local libraries, it could be that all the books are going to people who are not schoolteachers. It is not clear whether this is the exact reason why membership of schoolteachers did not increase in the Maplewood library.

Option C does a much better job in explaining the paradox. Schoolteachers are buying the newly launched e-reader & thus do not require the earlier coveted membership anymore.

8Harshitsharma · Answer

This is an e-gmat question and the official answer is choice D. The OA in the question post is incorrect. Please update it, so people don't misunderstand.

Bunuel · Answer

_______________________
Edited the OA. Thank you!

sayan640 · Answer

MartyMurray   KarishmaB  Can you please provide your explanation for this ?

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WINIFREDWU1103 · Answer

Could someone please explain why D is right.

It appears to me that D focuses on existing customers not new customers (those who reserved books with them directly)

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JuniqueLid · Answer

(D) is flawed and inferior to (C) for sure.

There’s no evidence in the passage that borrowing from Maplewood or any public library costs money. If library borrowing is free, then “discounts” may be meaningless or refer to irrelevant services.

Additionally, if Maplewood gives priority access to teachers, then it likely retains a key advantage.

Besides, If other libraries introduced discounts (even assuming they’re meaningful), we would expect some redistribution of memberships, i.e., a competitive shift in teacher behavior.

But in a competitive dynamic, if Maplewood’s offering were truly appealing (teacher-priority system), it should have at least maintained or grown share, unless competitors offered something directly better for teachers—which we are not told.

Therefore, the key flaw is that D would explain a decline in share due to diversion, not a lack of gain in share despite favorable conditions.

On the other hand, the introduction of e-readers provides a non-rivalrous, external explanation: teacher interest remained high, but overall demand for library access fell. it could explain why Maplewood didn’t grow its share: if all libraries experienced similar drops in teacher traffic or sign-ups, relative share would remain unchanged, even if Maplewood’s new system was appealing.

rishabh1105 · Answer

Maplewood Library implemented a new system for book reservations, giving priority to local schoolteachers. Educational consultants believed this approach would more effectively boost Maplewood's role in community engagement and increase its local membership compared to extending its operational hours beyond those of other local libraries.

Which of the following, if true, would best explain why Maplewood was unable to capture a higher share of new schoolteachers signing up for library memberships following the successful implementation of the new reservation system, despite schoolteachers reporting substantial interest in Maplewood’s new system?

Conclusion: The approach of new reservation system prioritizing local school teachers would be more effective in boosting community engagement than increasing the operation hours 
Situation: Maplewood was unable to capture a "higher share" of "new schoolteachers" signing up for library memberships following "successful" implementation of new reservation systems despite the substantial interest shown in the new system

A. Libraries in neighboring regions that did not compete directly with Maplewood introduced their own innovative membership drives during the same period.
If libraries that didnt compete directly with Maplewood introduced own innovative membership, it will not explain why Maplewood was unable to convert higher share within its competitors.

B. The local teachers' union had mixed feelings about Maplewood’s ability to successfully execute a reservation system that prioritizes their needs.
Even if they had mixed feeling about Maplewoods ability to execute, they were able to execute it - but unfortunately unable to convert more new teachers into membership. So the explanation isnt sufficient

C. During the period following the implementation of the new system, a globally popular e-reader was launched in the county that served many potential needs of teachers. 
Trap. Sounds like a reason but if we read carefully it is given that Maplewood wasnt able to capture "higher share" of "new schoolteachers" signing up for library memberships". So these were the teachers who were already interested in signing up but didn't.

D.  Shortly after Maplewood implemented its system, several other local libraries advertised heavy discounts to those who reserved books with them directly.
Sounds like a potential reason why they would not sign up with Maplewood

E. Just before Maplewood introduced the new reservation system, Maplewood’s competitors rebalanced their collection, such that most of them now had a selection similar to Maplewood’s.
This means there was no difference from collection standpoint, but there was a new reservation system in Maplewood that gave them more preference, so why wouldnt they sign up with them. Makes it more confusing instead of resolving it.

Muqeet · Answer

@MartyMurray please can you help us solve this

SRIVISHUDDHA22 · Answer

could someone explain why is it not C E-reader which meets all potential needs of local teacher doesnt even need reservation when compared to the local store which is giving heavy discount only when seat is reserved

DmitryFarber · Answer

This is a very odd question. Perhaps it's written from a different cultural perspective, but to a US reader, it's very odd to see a mention of fees to check out books. Libraries typically don't charge fees for checking out books, and to my knowledge, even when people do pay fees, it's more likely to be a membership rather than a per-book charge. (Now if we're talking late fees, that's another story. They could have built a new wing at my university library with all the late fees I ended up paying . . . ) So while I can see the case for D as a weaken, it just doesn't make a lot of sense. What are these fees?

As for C, I found it appealing, too. However, if we dig into the question, C doesn't quite do the job. We're supposed to find out why Maplewood didn't increase its "market share," or whatever term a library would use for the concept. (Again, are we supposed to think of these libraries as businesses?) C gives us a competitor to ALL libraries, but it doesn't explain why a smaller than expected percentage of those signing up for library memberships chose to join Maplewood in particular.

devadiv · Answer

Why is C not correct in this regard, if e-reader was introduced it would definitely lower the market share despite school teacher's interest. If D is correct, how can we justify the school teacher's interest ?

DmitryFarber · Answer

For C, see my post directly above yours. As for D, it doesn't tell us WHEN the teachers expressed interest. Presumably, they would have been more interested before the new discounts, which D tells us occurred after the new system was implemented. In any case, we accept the premises and all the answers as true, so somehow it has to be the case that teachers were interested, but the program still didn't enable the library to attract a greater share of users. If D is true, it shows a reason why teachers may have changed their minds.

devadiv

Why is C not correct in this regard, if e-reader was introduced it would definitely lower the market share despite school teacher's interest. If D is correct, how can we justify the school teacher's interest ?

inventoreducimus · Answer

C wouldn’t be the right choice because if teachers are using e reader than they are not buying a membership in the first place . We are only told that the library doesn’t get new teachers registering for library membership so its clear that these teachers still need a membership to fulfill their needs which the e reader is unable to provide for . Thus c doesn’t really solve the main problem we have to answer since the teachers who are using an ereader are irrelevant to what we want to answer for . Hence d is a better choice .

arushi118 · Answer

How do we know that the e-reader is unable to provide membership to teachers and that this membership is required to fulfill the needs of teachers?

DmitryFarber · Answer

We don't know that. but we don't need to. It wouldn't change the thing we're trying to understand. We want to know why the library didn't see a greater share among teachers who wanted library memberships. So no matter what % of these teachers use the e-reader, we still don't know why fewer chose this library as opposed to another library (not an e-reader service, which may or may not be offered by a library). Market share is comparing business at this library to business at other library's, so the existence of an e-reader doesn't make a clear difference.

arushi118

How do we know that the e-reader is unable to provide membership to teachers and that this membership is required to fulfill the needs of teachers?

Maplewood Library implemented a new system for book reservations

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Maplewood Library implemented a new system for book reservations

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