Nine secondary school libraries in New Zealand were examined to determine how often and how well students and teachers were using the library resources available to them. Both teachers and students were surveyed concerning their use of the library, the library skills they thought to be important, and their perceptions of the function of the librarian, library assistant, or teacher in the library. Based on the survey results and personal observations, it is concluded that school libraries in New Zealand suffer from the fact that many of them are being run by library assistants without professional training or teacher-librarians whose time is limited by other obligations. Suggestions for improvement include greater emphasis on inservice training for both teachers and library assistants, a shift in emphasis from the library as a teaching space to the library as a resource center, promotion of reading for pleasure and the development of reading lists and displays, and more supervision of library assistants in individual school libraries. The text is supplemented by photographs and tables, and two appendices detail the main characteristics of each library, including library staff and collections, and a summary of the students' responses to the questionnaire. A 26-item select bibliography is provided as well as 15 references. (EW)