Title: The School Library Policy: The Foundation for a Professional School Library Service
Abstract: This article stresses the importance of the school library policy for the management of secondary school libraries in England and Wales. It identifies the guidelines for best practice on producing a policy, key elements of the policy, and why the policy is so important for the management of an effective school library service. The theory of the school library policy is assessed against practice in individual school libraries using research carried out by the author as part of a master's thesis and other surveys of secondary school libraries that have addressed this issue. The article concludes that many schools in England and Wales have not embraced the guidelines on the school library policy as a key management tool in the operation of the library.