====== Use of External Content ======

VuFind® makes use of external content from various content providers to make the interface a more rich environment for a highly effective research experience.

These features can be configured by editing the [[configuration:files:config.ini]] file -- you will often need to enter your institution's access keys to get things working.  To disable unwanted features, you can comment out the relevant lines in the configuration file.

:!: IMPORTANT: Review content providers' terms of service before turning them on.  Terms may change, and not all content sources are appropriate for all applications.  The existence of functionality in VuFind® does not imply suitability for any particular situation.

===== Book Covers =====
VuFind® can be configured to load cover images from third-party services using identifiers found in your records (ISBNs, OCLC numbers, etc.). Supported cover sources include (but are not limited to) Syndetic Solutions, OpenLibrary, LibraryThing, Google Book Search, or your own collection of images.

You can also supplement third-party covers with locally-generated images through the [[configuration:dynamic_covers|dynamic covers]] feature.

**NOTE:** For using icons instead of covers for records please refer to the comments for getThumbnail() in the [[development:architecture:record_driver_method_master_list|Record Driver Method Master List]].

===== Book Previews =====

VuFind® can be configured to display previews of book content. See the [[configuration:book_previews|Book Previews]] page for more details.
===== Item Reviews =====
The review tab on the record view page can display review content from a third-party provider.  Currently in VuFind® this is based on an ISBN number so it only works on Books. This could be expanded in future to support additional identifiers if third-party services offer such capabilities. Currently, VuFind® offers connections to Syndetic Solutions (and a couple of more specialized sources) for review content.

===== Item Excerpts =====
VuFind® currently supports displaying excerpts of items obtained from Syndetic Solutions.

===== Author Biography =====

VuFind® has a web page for every author that is in the collection.  The Author web page provides biographical information about the author so the user is able to establish some context about who the author is.  Currently, VuFind® can be configured to provide content from Wikipedia.com. Local authority data can be applied to improve the accuracy of matching between local results and Wikipedia entries.

===== Additional Search Results =====

In addition to augmenting records in your index, there are many third-party sources of complete search results. See the [[configuration:third-party_content|third-party content]] page for details on some of these.

===== Future Development =====
We hope that libraries and other institutions who adopt VuFind® will contribute enhancements and improvements to VuFind® and through this VuFind® will be able to offer other choices for content providers.

If you are a content provider and would like to see your products included into VuFind® - please [[http://vufind.org/support.php|contact us]] so that we can help you include your products as an option within VuFind®.