By David Randall
In late ”80s, Roger Reynolds, then assistant director of the University of Utah bookstore, was facing a common dilemma of many bookstore directors.
A national photocopy company, which was in charge of printing the course packets for universities, was being sued by textbook publishers.
The situation sparked an idea in Reynolds, and he developed a business proposal for bookstores, which detailed how the stores could print their own course packets.
The idea was not only adopted by most bookstores, but it opened the doors for Reynolds to move up the bookstore ladder, eventually working for Stanford, which he called the “crown jewel of college bookstores at the time,” and as national sales representative for Ingram books, which he called the worlds largest book distributor.
Now he, like many other faculty members, has come to BYU, as the director for the BYU bookstores, chasing ambitions outside those of money and importance.
Reynolds actually began working at the BYU bookstore in 1971, while still a student, in the textbook department.
“I have to admit, that the first reason I wanted to work for the bookstore, was that it wasn”t a night custodian job,” he said. “The thing that I quickly learned was the huge amount of work the staff goes through to get the text books out there each and every semester.”
After earning his bachelors degree in Elementary Education, he had planned on a career in that field, but said that he decided such employment wouldn”t meet the goals he had for himself and his family.
Working in books, however, offered him a little more money, and thus, he decided to continue his work in both college and commercial bookstores, eventually in management positions.
Reynolds named one of his career philosophies as “prepare for opportunities, because they will come.” And indeed they did for him, when the call came, asking him to work at Stanford.
“I was pretty flattered,” he said, “I didn”t even know that the [contact as Stanford] knew that I existed. He was a legend in the industry.”
He gained valuable experience while away working at Stanford, and later for Cornell and Ingram books, each which he viewed a promotion.
He also gained added perspective and opportunities for his family, according to his wife, Debbi Reynolds, secretary for BYU testing services.
“We just kind of viewed it as an adventure,” she said. “I think it was a really good for our children to be able to see what life was like outside Utah.”
When employed for Ingram books, Roger Reynolds had a chance to travel to bookstores around the country and enjoyed a position of high prestige.
“I had really planned to stay at Ingram,” he said, “things were going well … but when [the BYU bookstore] position came open, my wife and I really had to evaluate, where we wanted to go in life, and it was just a matter of priorities, family over money, plus BYU is a wonderful opportunity.”
There was a drop in pay for Reynolds to accept the BYU position, but he decided the job would allow him to be closer to his children who had recently moved out to Utah, and his mother.
Dave Hunt, Assistant Administrator and vice president of Student Auxilary Services, was in charge of hiring Reynolds, said that he had received positive references about Reynolds from those who had worked at the bookstore with him in his student days, and was pleased to have him back.
“The experience he had gained made him very valuable to the university,” Hunt said.
While the decision to come back to BYU might seem illogical to some, Debbi Reynolds said the idea had never been too far from her minds.
“I think both of us had a feeling we would end up back here some day,” she said. “It was kind of the sense of coming full circle.”
