About
"This completely rules, as you kids say."
Peter Ivanick, Drexel University
"I love the 'text this' option in the catalog. It saves paper, I don't have to find the scrap of paper I wrote on, and I don't have to wonder if I transposed the call number. (I just have to have my cell phone with me!) This is a great feature."
Student, Villanova University

About VuFind

VuFind is a library resource portal designed and developed for libraries by libraries. The goal of VuFind is to enable your users to search and browse through all of your library's resources by replacing the traditional OPAC to include:

  • Catalog Records
  • Digital Library Items
  • Institutional Repository
  • Institutional Bibliography
  • Other Library Collections and Resources
VuFind is completely modular, so you can implement just the basic system or all of the components. Since it's open source, you can modify or add modules to best fit your needs. A wide range of configurable options allow extensive customization without changing any code.

Power

VuFind runs on Solr Energy. Apache Solr, an open source search engine, offers amazing performance and scalability to allow for VuFind to respond to search queries in milliseconds time. It has the ability to be distributed if you need to spread the load of the catalog over many servers or in a server farm environment.

Licensing

VuFind is offered for free through the GPL open source license. This means that you can use the software for free. You can modify the software and share your successes with the community!

VuFind in Action

Take a look at our VuFind Installations Wiki page to see how a variety of organizations have taken advantage of VuFind's flexibility. If you are already using VuFind, feel free to edit the page and share your accomplishments.

Releases

Downloads
Visit the download page for the latest version of VuFind.
History
For a chronology of VuFind releases and features, see the change log.
Getting Started
Our documentation will help you get started with installation and upgrading from previous versions.
Help!
Need help? Have a general question? You'll find answers in several forms on the support page.
Falvey Memorial Library


VuFind is developed and maintained by Villanova University's Falvey Memorial Library.

News

VuFind 2.0RC1 Released
April 26, 2013 - The first release candidate of VuFind 2.0 has just been released. This release provides a preview of the functionality and architecture that will be seen in the full 2.0 release, due later this summer.

The new release includes several significant enhancements: Significant security improvements, including more secure password storage and protection against spammer abuse; A “MultiBackend” driver which allows VuFind to interact with multiple integrated library systems at once; A new and flexible search system with more modular, reusable code; 2.0 versions of all new features introduced in the 1.4 release, including support for hierarchical records and the Clickatell SMS service; and several bug fixes and minor improvements.

The new release can be downloaded at http://vufind.org .
VuFind 1.4 Released
January 28, 2013 - The final major release in the VuFind 1.x line is now available. VuFind 1.4 includes several significant enhancements: support for hierarchical collections of records, allowing better integration of archival materials and digital repositories; built-in support for running without an Integrated Library System, making VuFind more convenient for non-library uses and offering smarter behavior during temporary ILS outages; the ability to provide custom recommendations to the user when no search results are found; an improved and expanded mobile interface; new index fields allowing VuFind to be used as an article index; optional Clickatell support for text messaging; and several new interface translations: Basque, Catalan, Czech and Russian. Additionally, several bug fixes and minor improvements have been incorporated. The new release can be downloaded at http://vufind.org .
2.0beta Preview Available
October 01, 2012 - A new preview version of VuFind 2.0 is now available. 2.0beta features all of the same functionality as 2.0alpha, but it has been upgraded to use the newly released Zend Framework 2.0. Additionally, the installation process and configuration options have been made more powerful and flexible, and online documentation has been significantly expanded.

2.0beta is still NOT INTENDED FOR PRODUCTION, and some architectural details will change prior to the full 2.0 release in 2013. However, the code is maturing, and this release should be suitable for use by early adopters willing to follow development closely over the coming months.

To download the preview release and learn more about VuFind 2.0, visit http://vufind.org/downloads.php .