Staffing required for a library depends upon various factors such as number of working days in a year, hours the library is open, leave allowed per year, total stock, number of documents added per year, number of documents circulated per day, number of ready reference queries handled per day, types and quantum of services offered, and number of readers requiring guidance per day. LISPA is a set of programs developed to run on IBM PC/AT computers and compatibles to assist planning for library staff requirements, taking into consideration the above factors and more. Though it is not an expert system, it encapsulates the expert knowledge of a library staff planner. Although LISPA has built-in default values and ratios for computing the staffing required for a library, users can alter these values and standards and compute staffing requirements based on their library's needs. That is, LISPA allows the planner to choose the kinds of services required and the operational environment of the library and control the computation process according to these requirements This facility makes LISPA useful for planning staffing needs for libraries in different socioeconomic and technological environments. The system can be used to check the present staffing needs of a library, to estimate its future requirements, and to plan staffing needs for a new library. The staffing requirements are computed and presented in the following categories: senior professionals, professionals, paraprofessionals, and skilled and unskilled staff. LISPA can be used both to plan and to teach how to manage staffing needs in a library, since it displays the steps involved in the computation and also the functions of the different sections in the library, including the various kinds of services a library can offer. The system is written in CBASIC and is easy to use, as it prompts the user throughout its execution.
