10 questions with… Jennifer Bremner

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If you’ve spent much time in our Library, chances are you’ve met long-time Macquarie staff member and lover of lifelong learning, Jennifer Bremner. While we won’t say exactly how long she has been part of the MQ family, let’s just say she remembers the old Library… and card catalogues. 

Jennifer has held many roles over her many years with Macquarie, including library assistant, research and outreach librarian, a facilitator, a web designer, a project manager, a lean process improvement practitioner, and a department manager. While most of her experience has been in the Library, she also been part of the Business Process Improvement Initiative.

Currently, Jennifer is the Manager, Library Planning & Administrative Services and really enjoys the variety and challenges of her current role and values being part of the collaborative and innovative Library team.

With plans to abandon the safety of her beloved couch, Kindle in bag, Jennifer is looking forward to embarking on travels up north, reading and making friends with the local wildlife.


1. Something you’d like staff to know about
I would like staff to know about the awesome work being done by the Council of Australia University Librarians and Macquarie University Library around Publish and Read agreements known as PARs or transformative agreements. These agreements transform the business model of scholarly publishing and enable an open access publishing model for researchers. This makes research outputs more visible and accessible to a much wider audience.  All researchers need to do is publish as normal and if their publication is covered by a PAR their work will appear on the publisher’s website for free access and use.

2. Something you feel proud of
I am proud of facilitating the staff workshops for the development of the Library strategic plan for 2022 to 2025. There were multiple workshops, and all Library staff had the chance to really contribute and collaborate on our vision, mission, and values, and to jointly develop our strategic plan. It was a great experience to hear what my colleagues valued about the Library, their roles and contributions and their vison of where we are headed.

3. What you need to do your best work
I would have to say it depend on the nature of the work I am doing. Sometimes I need to have clear direction and a committed, collaborative, and creative team. Other times I need space and time to read, think and lots of peace and quiet to write.

4. Something people usually ask you when they find out what you do for living
You must love books, do you read all day? The answer is unfortunately no I do not get to read books all day.  In my first ever job interview at Macquarie one questions was “Why do you want to work in the Library?  and please, please do not say it’s because you like to read books”. My answer was about how libraries support lifelong learning and the importance of quality information and knowledge sharing in education. Although I do like to read it is confined to my Kindle app on the bus these days.

5. Something you’ve read recently that has had an impact on you
I recently re-read The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu by Joshua Hammer, I always find it kind of inspirational and interesting. I also recently read the Educause Review Special Report on Digital Transformation. It came out in October 2021, and I was struck by the emphasis on integrative leadership, culture, and workforce capacity in enacting digital transformation in higher education.

6. A favourite photo from your camera roll
This is Millie – she is a pandemic pet (18 months old), after a mourning period for our last cat, my son wanted a very fluffy furball and he chose Millie.

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7. Your definition of success
I define success as having done my best to achieve something, either personally or professionally, especially when I have grown or learnt something along the way. I love a good project because they have defined goals and end points.

8. A website or app you can’t live without (and why)
The apps I cannot live without because they make my life better are TripView, Kindle and Spotify.

9. A personal quality you value in others
I really value the ability to admit mistakes and learn from them and I respect anyone who can genuinely learn from their mistakes and change what they are doing as a result.

10. Something you’re trying to do differently in 2022
I really hope that I will be able to get out and about more, especially to travel and spend a lot more time with my friends and family. I may even abandon my couch and recliner completely and go crocodile watching in the Northern Territory.

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