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VuFind

Requirements

Software

VuFind was developed with the following software packages in mind:

VuFind Version(s)	Apache HTTP Server Version	PHP Version	MySQL Version	Java JDK Version
VuFind 1.x	2.2.12+	5.2.x	4.1+	1.5+
VuFind 2.0-2.3.1	2.2.12+	5.3.3+	5.1.10+	1.7+
VuFind 2.4+	2.2.12+	5.4+	5.1.10+	1.7+

The installation documentation will help guide you through the process of installing these prerequisites and setting up VuFind on various operating systems. Both Linux and Windows are fully supported.

Hardware

VuFind’s hardware requirements vary based on the size and amount of data you are indexing as well as the user load you expect. As a result, it is impossible to give absolute hardware requirements.

For a small index, very basic web server hardware will be sufficient. The bare minimum is probably around 2GB of RAM and a few GBs of disk storage.

For huge indexes, you will need more RAM and disk storage, and you may even want to spread the load across multiple servers.

The good news is that VuFind is extremely scalable. You can start small and grow the system as needed.

Features

Search with Faceted Results

The search system allows for the user to search from a basic search box and then to be able to narrow down the results by clicking on the various facets of the results.

Live Record Status and Location with Ajax Querying

The search results page is able to display the live status of a record through the use of AJAX by querying the catalog at that exact moment. And since it is done through AJAX after the results have loaded, the page will not slow down for any reason.

“More Like This” Resource Suggestions

When viewing a record, the user will be offered suggestions of resources that are similar to the current resource.

Save Resources to Organized Lists

The user has the ability to save the resources from both the search results page and from the record view page to their own customizable lists. The lists can be retrieved at any time and will always be there for the user. This helps to eliminate the need for desktop based citation management software that tends to be too difficult for basic users. This makes it simple for all users!

Browse for Resources

The user has the ability to browse the catalog allowing them to explore what the library has rather than only being able to see a very narrow spectrum of results.

Author Biographies

The user can learn more about the author with contextual information and see all of the books that they have written in the library.

Persistent URLs

Allows the user to bookmark their queries or records to allow permanent access to a page they were once on.

Zotero Compatible

Your users can save and tag any records with Zotero or any other COinS based application so they can store their records in one place.

Internationalization

The interface has translations available in Brazilian Portuguese, Chinese, Dutch, English, French, German, Japanese, Spanish and more. And if you want to create your own translation - it’s easy. You can even create a new English translation if you want to change some of the wording used in the interface - it makes the UI that much easier to customize.

Access Your Data: Open Search, OAI, Solr

VuFind has many APIs to interact with the search, data and many other features. You can syndicate your record data with other institutions via an OAI server. You can search using vufind’s algorithms via OpenSearch. And if you want complete access to your indexed data, you can interact with Solr, VuFind’s backend search and index engine.

Tested & Working

This label indicates that I could install the script without major problems and I could run the script without the need for major modifications to the original code (except for the usual configuration, of course). The label does, on the other hand, not indicate that scripts without this label would not work properly. The missing of the „tested & working“-label just indicates that I did not yet test these scripts.

Webmaster’s Choice

This label indicates that the owner of this website uses this script / application for his own projects with success and satisfaction. This does, however, not indicate that these projects could not have been realized using other scripts / applications as well or that other scripts would not fit the demands of other projects as well or even better.