An empirical investigation of the appropriateness of the product life cycle to municipal library services

A set of longitudinal data for each of 25 major U.S. cities was extracted from the U.S. Bureau of the Census publicationCity Government Finances. This was used to compute municipal libraries' market share of total city expenditures. The data were graphed and exhibited the characteristics of a product life cycle curve. The findings of the study suggest that the product life cycle concept can be usefully applied to non-profit public sector organizations. Specifically the findings indicate that library administrators should give serious attention to market stretching or recognize that decline in their market share in the next few years appears likely. It is also suggested that recognition of the product life cycle concept has implications for managerial strategy and skills in the library service, particularly in the field of personnel selection.