This document is still a draft and is subject to change!

Welcome to the first VuFind newsletter. The goal of this publication will be to provide at-a-glance insight into project activity, as well as highlight areas where contributions or further discussion might be needed. It will always be published one week before the monthly Community Call, and readers are encouraged to bring their ideas, questions and feedback to that forum.

The 2019 VuFind Summit was held at Villanova University on October 14, 2019. This newsletter was begun as a direct result of conversations there about community outreach and participation. Video of the Summit will be shared soon.

The following items were completed in the past month:

• Alma ILS driver improvements: #1444 / VUFIND-1337, #1446, #1447, #1449, #1450, #1453, #1456, #1472
• Database adjustments to reduce the chances of IDs overflowing in high-volume tables: #1471
• Error-reporting mechanism for displaying certain search backend errors directly to users (currently only used by Primo Central, to communicate the fact that blank searches are unsupported): #1455
• FOLIO ILS driver improvement: #1461
• More configurable hierarchical facet sort options: #1452
• Minor bug / typo fixes: #1443, #1448, #1457, #1459, #1463, #1467
• Redis session support: #1460, #1464, #1474
• Translation improvements (including the addition of Croatian support): #1445, #1470, #1473

The following items were reported / begun in the past month, but are not yet completed:

• Add support for additional identifier types to the cover image loader: #1451
• ArchivesSpace integration: #1469
• Configurable default search backend (makes it easier to use VuFind without Solr; e.g. as a front-end for EDS/Primo/Summon): #1476 / VUFIND-1359
• Geographic indexing support for Dublin Core XML documents: #1465
• Improvements to item status display: #1466
• More configurable “local host” detection for the VuFindHttp library: VuFindHttp#13
• New view helpers designed to help improve overall theme design: #1454, #1458
• SMTP improvements (allow connection reset; add configurable timeout): #1468, #1475
• Solr 8 upgrade: #1477 / VUFIND-1339

• BUG: Hunt does not always trigger correctly: VUFIND-1367
• BUG: Off-canvas toggle missing: VUFIND-1354 (possibly already resolved; further investigation required)
• IMPROVEMENT: Apply namespacing to all Javascript code: VUFIND-1361
• IMPROVEMENT: Filter user interface needs some inconsistencies addressed: VUFIND-1353
• IMPROVEMENT: Improve design of session handler code: VUFIND-1355
• NEW FEATURE: Add 'extra' parameter to serialized searches: VUFIND-1364
• NEW FEATURE: Clear the cache through the API: VUFIND-1365
• NEW FEATURE: Configurable autocomplete: VUFIND-1362
• NEW FEATURE: Display result count preview while user fills in advanced search form: VUFIND-1360
• NEW FEATURE: Display user barcode / QR code on account page: VUFIND-1366
• TASK: Brainstorm community call improvements: VUFIND-1356
• TASK: Improve documentation: VUFIND-1358
• TASK: Provide Docker container for VuFind beginners: VUFIND-1357

The following items saw significant progress / activity during the past month:

• Google Scholar tags: https://vufind.org/jira/browse/VUFIND-951 - this older issue has been revived, and a pull request may be forthcoming
• Improve Solr spell checking: VUFIND-745 - there has been some new discussion about using newer Solr spellcheck features in VuFind
• Modernize browse handler/indexer: VUFIND-1341 / VUFIND-1342 / VUFIND-1363 - the future of the AlphaBrowse handler continues to be discussed here
• New Progressive Theme: VUFIND-1352 - discussion is ongoing about the future of VuFind's themes
• Selective dissemination of information (SDI): #1440 - work is moving forward on making sure that email notifications can be sent reliably
• Use docValues for appropriate Solr fields: VUFIND-1100 - this long-ongoing conversation has been revived, possibly to be resolved in conjunction with upgrading to Solr 8