Jerie Bray, an 18-year veteran of the college bookstore industry, is the new manager of the Auraria Bookstore. Bray sees her new role as the culmination of a career in which she's worked in numerous facets of the collegiate bookstore industry, including community colleges, Division I and II colleges, for-profit institutions and even the vendor side of the business.

And, having spent most of her adult life here, Bray is thrilled to be back in Colorado. "I love Colorado," she said. Her career included positions at the Air Force Academy, the University of Northern Colorado and the University of Colorado at Boulder before leaving the state for DePaul University in Chicago.

Bray hopes to forge strong partnerships with faculty and staff. "We're not just a bookstore, we're part of the academic community and part of each institution," she said. "Customer service is always the goal."

With this in mind, Bray plans to work closely with faculty and staff to understand their needs and to ensure that the bookstore is providing not only the right textbooks but also any supplemental resources. "We want to be able to have those things available in the bookstore that will support and enhance what is being taught in the classroom, be it special art paper or a specific reference book," she said.

For the upcoming fall semester, Bray's goal is to have as many textbooks as possible in stock. "By August 4 - two weeks before the start of classes - my goal is to have all books on the shelf or to know the reason why they're not," she said. On Aug. 6, the bookstore will invite faculty and staff to a reception, so they can see what is actually on the shelf and make any changes or corrections at that time.

"We want to do as much as humanly possible to make sure we have the right books on the shelves," Bray said. "At the same time, we plan to let faculty know of any delays so if they need to, they can make changes to their syllabus."