Alumni in profile
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Lesa Maclean
Bachelor of Arts (History and Psychology) 2007
Graduate Lesa Maclean is a librarian and proud of it. She currently works at the Wyndham Library Service and at Deakin's Geelong Waterfront Campus Library.
'I currently work not only at a public library service, but also Deakin's Waterfront Campus in the library and I just love it! Every task I undertake helps library users find the information they are seeking which means that my job is so varied. Some of my tasks include: customer service, research inquiries, organising knowledge through cataloguing and classification, supervision and staff training, information technology troubleshooting and library training,' she explains.
Passionate about her career, Lesa also sees it as a vital part of her employment to promote the profession to potential future librarians.
'As a new and young librarian, I understand that I have an important role to play in the survival of the profession. I see it as vital part of my work to help change the image of libraries and of the profession to hopefully inspire the next generation of librarians,' she says.
'Libraries are dynamic places so there is always something new to learn and I know that my job will never get boring or routine - I strongly recommend it as a career path,' she said.
Lesa says she has experienced many career highlights in her short time as a librarian.
'In 2008 I attended the New Librarian's Symposium - where I gained some great insights into the profession. I graduated with my librarian degree and I landed jobs at the Deakin University Waterfront Campus Library and Wyndham Library Service, where I am learning so much. I have also recently had published some articles in the library profession magazine Incite.'
Lesa graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (History and Psychology) in 2007 and says that Deakin helped her to fulfil a lifelong ambition.
'Basically I had a dream since early high school days, that kept me extremely focussed throughout my life, especially when going through some very rough patches - that dream was to be a student at Deakin University and I fought hard for it.'
'I attended a history lecture at Deakin Open Day 1998 and I remember feeling so inspired to learn and achieve and after that experience there was no place else I wanted to study. It's great to know I achieved my dream.'
According to Lesa, her decision to study at Deakin turned out to be the right one for her.
'The thing I loved about Deakin the most, was learning - sheer learning. As William Butler Yates once said, "education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire". Through my education at Deakin my eyes were opened to so many things, my heart was invigorated, my mind exercised, and my aspirations realised.'
'The knowledge I gained as well as the research skills I picked up at Deakin have definitely helped me - not only in my everyday life, but specifically in my career as a librarian. I need good research skills as a librarian and I definitely thank Deakin for those.'
'Deakin is a very advanced university in terms of the teaching style and technology it uses. Deakin streams lectures online, has a student forum and a very cutting edge library. Believe it or not, a lot of universities are still far from implementing these and this can make the student experience far less enjoyable and successful,' she explains.
As for the future Lesa is quite clear on where her future career path lies.
'I am a librarian for life and I'd like to eventually move into a managerial role, inspire the masses to become librarians and be proud of it and in doing so be involved in changing the image of the profession to present it as a more viable and interesting career path. I really want to be a part of the development of the libraries of the future,' she says
