Z. Smith Reynolds Library

What Z. Smith Reynolds Library does

Z. Smith Reynolds Library (ZSR) is the main academic library of Wake Forest University, a private nonprofit institution in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The library opened in 1956 in the Reynolds Wing (120,000 sq. ft., 8 levels) and expanded in 1991 with the Wilson Wing (53,000 sq. ft., 4 levels), totaling 173,000 sq. ft. It serves Wake Forest students, faculty, staff, alumni, and visiting researchers, holding over 1.2 million volumes, 50,000+ electronic journal subscriptions, and 500+ electronic databases.

ZSR's service portfolio includes the credit-bearing LIB100 information literacy course (22 sections serving ~317 students in 2025-26, total 485 LIB enrollments across 33 sections), research consultation, interlibrary loan and document delivery (ZSR Delivers + ILL), Special Collections & Archives (including the North Carolina Baptist Historical Collection, rare books, and the University Archives), the Business Information Commons (Bloomberg terminals, WRDS/CRSP-Compustat, Bloomberg certifications), the WakeSpace institutional repository, Open Access Publishing Fund support (up to $3,000 per article, $5,000 per OA book), the ZSRx Lifelong Learning program, multimedia equipment lending, a One Button Studio, two 24/7 study rooms, and 138 open hours per week. Technology stack includes Ex Libris for the catalog, Occuspace/Waitz sensors for occupancy tracking, FromThePage for crowdsourced transcription, and Canvas LMS for online course delivery. The library is operationally integrated with the Writing Center, CLASS Testing Center, Center for the Advancement of Teaching, and the Bridge IT help desk, all co-located in the building.

ZSR is funded through Wake Forest University's operating budget, with a total operating budget exceeding $13 million and a materials budget exceeding $6 million. There is no external sales motion, no pricing model, and no paying customers; all services are free to the WFU community. Notable external funding includes a $50,000 CLIR Recordings at Risk Grant (November 2018) for digitizing ~1,500 Baptist State Convention reel-to-reel recordings. Strategic partnerships include Bloomberg for Education (300 certification licenses annually), NCLIVE, WRDS, FromThePage, and the State Library of North Carolina. ZSR is led by Dean Lauren Pressley with a leadership team of five directors and multiple department heads.

Name

Z. Smith Reynolds Library

Legal name

Z. Smith Reynolds Library (Wake Forest University)

Website

https://zsr.wfu.edu

Company type

Private

Founded year

1956

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Z. Smith Reynolds Library is the main academic library of Wake Forest University, serving students, faculty, staff, and alumni with 1.2M+ volumes, 500+ databases, Special Collections, research instruction, business information services, and 24/7 study spaces.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Academic Library Services

NAICS

Libraries and Archives (519210), Libraries and Archives (51921), Other Schools and Instruction (6116)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Academic & Research Library Operations (College/University Libraries) (EDAEAGAB)

akta.pro secondary industry

Library User Services & Information Support (Reference, Research Help, Instruction Support) (EDAEAGAL)

Keywords

• Academic library services
• Information literacy instruction
• Special collections archives
• Interlibrary loan delivery
• Digital scholarship repository

Headquarters

HQ city

Winston-Salem

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Others, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. University Funding: The library is funded through Wake Forest University's operating budget. Total operating budget exceeds $13 million with materials budget over $6 million.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Z. Smith Reynolds Library is the main academic library of Wake Forest University, providing research support, collections (1.2M+ volumes, 50,000+ journals, 500+ databases), credit-bearing information literacy instruction (LIB100), interlibrary loan and document delivery, Special Collections and Archives (including the NC Baptist Historical Collection), Business Information Commons access (Bloomberg Terminal and WRDS), study spaces (24/7 rooms), multimedia equipment, and Lifelong Learning programming. Operations are funded through the WFU operating budget (over $13 million total, over $6 million in materials) and are available free of charge to WFU students, faculty, staff, and select alumni.

Product overview

Z. Smith Reynolds Library is a traditional academic library serving Wake Forest University, offering information resources, research services, instructional programs, and physical/digital collections. The library's service portfolio includes a credit-bearing information literacy course (LIB100), interlibrary loan and document delivery (ZSR Delivers), access to 500+ electronic databases and 50,000+ electronic journal subscriptions, special collections and archives including the North Carolina Baptist Historical Collection, institutional repository (WakeSpace), business research services through the Business Information Commons with Bloomberg Terminal access, multimedia equipment checkout, study spaces including 24/7 rooms, and various campus partnerships (Writing Center, Center for the Advancement of Teaching, CLASS Testing Center). The library does not offer a standalone software product or SaaS platform.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• LIB100: Academic Research and Information Issues A credit-bearing introductory library research course for Wake Forest University students, with 22 sections serving approximately 317 students in 2025-26 (33 sections across all LIB courses enrolling 485 students). It incorporates AI literacy, news literacy, and source verification concepts.
• ZSR Delivers + Interlibrary Loan Document delivery and interlibrary loan service enabling WFU students, faculty, and staff to request materials from other libraries and have items delivered to the main library or directly to users.
• Open Access Publishing Fund A shared funding initiative by ZSR Library and the Office of Research & Sponsored Programs supporting Wake Forest faculty with open access publishing charges (APCs) up to $3,000 for articles/book chapters and up to $5,000 for OA books.
• WakeSpace Scholarship (Institutional Repository) Wake Forest University's institutional repository preserving and providing open access to scholarly works, research outputs, and digitized collection materials including Baptist historical records.
• Special Collections & Archives Department housing Manuscripts, Rare Books, NC Baptist Historical Collection (Ethel Taylor Crittenden Collection in Baptist History), and University Archives, supporting university research and external scholarship.
• NC Baptist Historical Collection / North Carolina Baptist Portal Premier repository for church records, organizational minutes, and manuscripts reflecting over 300 years of Baptist faith activity, including digitized reel-to-reel recordings and colonial-era church documents.
• Business Information Commons Business research hub within the library offering access to Bloomberg Terminal (4 physical terminals), WRDS databases including CRSP/Compustat, Bloomberg certifications, and business librarian support.
• ZSRx: Lifelong Learning Innovative online learning program offering free courses to alumni, parents, and community members, including past courses on genealogy (RootsMOOC), Twitter, digital publishing, and parenting; RootsMOOC alone enrolled over 4,000 learners in partnership with the State Library of North Carolina.
• Multimedia Equipment Checkout Lending service for multimedia equipment including cameras, audio recorders, and other AV gear, reservable one week in advance by WFU students, faculty, and staff.
• Course Reserves Service allowing faculty to place required course materials on reserve for student access, with items available at the Library Services Desk.
• Research Guides (Subject LibGuides) Online research guides organized by subject, covering topics from AI literacy and news literacy to business resources, database access, and research methodology.

Quantifiable outcome

• 485 students enrolled in LIB courses for 2025-26 academic year
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration4 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

13 partnerships are on record, tiered major, core and minor.

• Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR)majorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 November 2018Received $50,000 Recordings at Risk Grant to digitize 1,500 reel-to-reel audio recordings of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina from 1957-1980. Project included approximately 1,500 at-risk open-reel audio recordings documenting the American evangelical movement.
• George Blood LPcoreTechnology or Integration · 1 January 2018Philadelphia-based firm contracted to reformat and digitize the Baptist State Convention recordings as part of the CLIR-funded project.
• FromThePagecoreTechnology or IntegrationCrowdsourcing transcription platform enabling volunteers to transcribe and index historical documents. Used for Baptist church minutes and Wake Forest Board of Trustees records.
• Office of Research & Sponsored Programs (ORSP)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-sponsors the Open Access Publishing Fund with ZSR Library, sharing costs of article processing charges (APCs) for Wake Forest faculty.
• State Library of North CarolinaminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborated with State Library to create RootsMOOC, a free online genealogy course that enrolled over 4,000 learners.
• Bloomberg for EducationcoreTechnology or IntegrationProvides 300 free Bloomberg certification web licenses annually and access to Bloomberg Market Concepts, Finance Fundamentals, ESG, and Spreadsheet Analysis courses for WFU students, staff, and faculty.
• Wharton Research Data Services (WRDS)coreTechnology or IntegrationProvides access to CRSP/Compustat Merged Database combining stock market data with fundamental data for financial research.
• NCLIVEcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorStatewide library cooperative providing access to Gale Indigenous Peoples of North America and other resources for WFU community.
• University of LouisvilleminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborative digital project partner for Wayne Oates Papers metadata project.
• The Bridge (Information Systems Service Desk)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerTechnology help desk located on Level 2 of ZSR Library, providing technology support services to WFU community.
• CLASS (Center for Learning, Access, and Student Success)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerTesting center and academic success services located in ZSR Library, providing test proctoring and disability services.
• Writing CentercoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerWriting assistance services located on Level 4 of ZSR Library, supporting student writing across disciplines.
• Center for the Advancement of Teaching (CAT)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerTeaching support services located on Level 6 of ZSR Library, supporting faculty development and teaching excellence.

Scale indicators10 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Others

• HathiTrust Digital Library: Shared digital preservation and access repository in which ZSR participates indirectly through consortia. Relevant as the leading model for university-library content aggregation and shared digital infrastructure.
• Ex Libris (Clarivate): Vendor of the integrated library system (catalog, circulation, patron management) used by ZSR. Relevant as a key technology supplier rather than a competitor, but the closest peer for evaluating tech-stack choices.
• Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR): National nonprofit funder and coordinating body for academic libraries. Acts as a grantmaker and ecosystem partner to ZSR, not a competitor — but is the most relevant reference for the funding/coordination layer of academic libraries.

Direct peers

• Emory University Libraries: Private research university library with comparable special collections, digital scholarship, and instruction programs. Similar institutional type and Carnegie classification to Wake Forest, with peer-comparable acquisition budgets.
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Libraries: Major state university library system with similar research, special collections, and instruction programs. Comparable given shared North Carolina geography, Baptist/Southern historical collection overlap, and similar collection size and budget scale.
• Vanderbilt University Library: Private research university library serving a similar student profile with comparable special collections, instruction, and digital initiatives. Most comparable SEC/private-university library peer.
• Duke University Libraries: Private university library system serving Duke University with comparable research-intensive mission, special collections, and digital scholarship services. Most comparable peer given similar institutional type, Carnegie classification, and library budget scale.
• Brown University Library: Private Ivy-adjacent university library with similar research support, special collections, and instruction offerings. Comparable institutional scale and Carnegie classification.

Regional players

• North Carolina State University Libraries: In-state NC academic library with similar instruction, collections, and digital scholarship programs. Comparable in geographic context and library-scale, though not in direct competition because ZSR serves a private university.

Broad incumbents

• Stanford University Libraries: Much larger research library system with overlapping academic library services but at substantially greater scale and budget. Comparable as a leader in digital scholarship and special collections, but operates at a different tier.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/@zsrlibrary/videos
• Facebookfacebook.com/zsrlibrary
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/zsrlibrary
• Instagraminstagram.com/zsrlibrary
• TikToktiktok.com/@zsrlibrary

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles21 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Z. Smith Reynolds Library