The long-standing discussion of the theoretical versus the practical orientation of our professional education is examined from the student's perspective. Although the curricular orientation need not be one of mutual antagonism, the study did reveal the influence of such variables as sex, term of respondent, undergraduate degree, advanced degree, preprofessional work experience, type of library, professional journal subscriptions, and the browsing of library literature on their theoretical or practical orientation and their understanding of what it means to be a librarian.
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Richardson et al. (1981) studied this question.