Its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) shape the academic library in terms of what it is and does, how it is seen, where it excels and struggles, and its potential for advancement or decline. The purpose of this research is to guide strategy development, decision making, and advancement of positioning by identifying and analyzing the key strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats impacting academic libraries. Its premise is that an understanding of these elements, their overlap, and the interplay between them is essential to the effective development of academic library strategy. This research is unique in applying SWOT analysis to academic libraries collectively. The approach is to select four items of long-term significance in each SWOT category across two articles. Strengths and opportunities are the focus of this first article, preceded by context, a literature review, and overview of the SWOT analysis methodology. The strengths identified are centrality, values, collaboration, and reinvention, while the opportunities are the post-COVID world, digital scholarship, open scholarship, and learning space. The second article will examine weaknesses and threats, discuss the whole SWOT analysis and offer a framework for future strategy development, and positioning based on ten proposed strategic directions.