Measuring theory through practice: Librarians’ perceptions of relevance, concreteness, and importance

Introduction. This study investigates how reference librarians perceive the relevance, concreteness, and importance of established theories of information behaviour. While the theory –practice gap has been widely discussed, little empirical evidence exists on how practit ioners perceive formal theories in relation to their work. Method. We conducted an online survey using plain language descriptions of twelve major theories of information behaviour. Participants rated each theory on three semantic differential scales: irrelevant-relevant to their work, abstract-concrete, and unimportant-important. Analysis. A total of 771 valid questionnaires were analysed using descriptive statistics, correlations, and Wilcoxon signed-rank tests, and were compared with findings from a prior qualitative interview and card-sorting study. Results. Reference librarians evaluated all theories as at least moderately relevant, concrete, and important. Despite strong correlations between relevance and importance ratings, interesting differences emerged: some theories were viewed as more relevant than imp ortant, while others were seen as more important than relevant to their work. This suggests that librarians differentiate between immediate applicability and broader conceptual value. Conclusion. The study showed that reference librarians make subtle but meaningful distinctions in how they perceive information behaviour theories. A survey using semantic differential scales proved useful in capturing these perceptions and revealed patterns that ali gn with qualitative findings.