Library Planning

For the 2024-2025 academic year, the Z. Smith Reynolds Library launched its new strategic framework, Informing Our Future. The framework was created to support and complement the university’s strategic framework, Framing Our Future. Both the Library’s and the University’s frameworks are intended to be living documents that will guide us to the University’s bicentennial in 2034. Initial priorities for the Library are being developed in the summer of 2024 and will be shared on this website.

Planning History at ZSR

In conjunction with the 2007 Wake Forest strategic plan, the Library developed its strategic plan to support the goals and aspirations of the university’s vision. By 2011, all viable components of the plan had been accomplished. Our success in accomplishing this ambitious plan was affirmed when ZSR won the ACRL Excellence in Academic Libraries award for 2011.

Following the accomplishments of the 2007 plan, the Library created a set of strategic priorities for 2012-2014. This plan positioned the Library to lead the transformational changes that are happening in higher education. At the end of 2014, most of those priority items have been accomplished. A Diversity & Inclusion Strategic Plan was also created in 2013 to complement this work.

July 1, 2014 brought an unplanned change to Z. Smith Reynolds Library. Its Dean, Lynn Sutton, was invited to take on the role of Vice Provost of Wake Forest University. Again, ZSR Library wanted to keep its forward momentum going, while recognizing that a new dean will want to set his/her own agenda. To that end, for FY15, the Library leadership team established a set of objectives to help keep the Library as the hub of campus intellectual life and prepare for the Capital Campaign renovations.

The Library developed a three-year plan for the period of 2019 through 2021 as a follow-up to its strategic objectives. This plan built on the Library’s strengths and vision for the future while continuing its mission to inspire learning, advance knowledge, and build community at Wake Forest University. The three primary goals of the plan were:

1. Reimagining the library experience to inspire curiosity, discovery, and collaboration.
2. Reimagining the library’s role within the university, the local community, and academia.
3. Reimagining the library environment to promote an increasingly responsive, creative, and user-centered faculty and staff.

Much progress was made on this plan until a global pandemic altered the plans of the Library and University. With the appointment of Wake Forest’s 14th president, Dr. Susan Wente, in July of 2021, the Library decided to wait until the president established her priorities before launching a new planning process.