March was an extremely active month for VuFind developments, with a focus on bug fixing and general code quality improvements, as well as the addition of some new features like the “Bookplates” related record module and a more readable configuration format for Javascript required by themes. The project to enable compatibility between VuFind and Composer 2 was completed, keeping the project up to date with current PHP best practices.

The other major development of the month was the acceptance of the VuFind Governance Document; with no further comments on the draft shared earlier in the year, the VuFind Project Management Committee was officially formed, and the group will work to get the documentation formalized in VuFind's Git repository and on the website over the coming weeks.

The following items were completed in the past month:

• Add ARIA role for flashmessages: #1840
• Add cat_username to getMyProfile method of Aleph driver: #1870
• Add MultiBackend support for getHoldLink method: #1887
• Aleph: Add properties definitions to driver: #1892
• Aleph: Catch the exception of unsuccessful hold cancel: #1872
• Change Vagrant default user to match updated box: #1861
• Citations: smarter year cleanup: #1859
• Donor bookplates: #1834
• Email change tweaks: #1877
• Enable ES6 in eslint: #1810
• Facets.js::buildFacetNodes without jQuery: #1875, #1878
• Fix for a null variable situation in Piwik helper: #1876
• Fix loading of similar records tab: #1772
• Fix outdated comments for RecommendInterface::init(): VUFIND-1472
• Fix VuFind case: #1889
• FOLIO: Fix parameters of getNewItems method: #1864
• FOLIO: use getPagedResults for items and holdings in getHolding: #1857
• Handle repeating IDs in a record loader batch: #1858, #1871
• Improve specificity/encoding of EDS internal links: #1873
• Improved translation for browse headings: #1812
• Make Solr installation optional. Disable it in Travis: #1869
• PAIA ILS driver: add missing method: #1894
• Prevent exceptions during email notification sending: #1867, #1868
• Realign collection/view.phtml with record/view.phtml: #1866
• Refactor query normalization: #1714
• Set of email verification related tweaks: #1891
• Simplify and improve Bootstrapper: #1882
• SolrPrefix autocomplete: #1850
• Support richer, more readable Javascript configuration: #1863
• Unify array field handling in DefaultRecord: #1893
• Unify whitespace between facet checkbox and text: #1899
• Update breadcrumbs for the record and collection pages: #1821
• Update jit-grunt package: #1883
• Update jstree component: #1849
• Update VuFind to use Composer 2: VUFIND-1454 / #1862
• Use correct class names as service names (instead of aliases/strings): #1860

This PR was closed due to staleness/lack of activity, and because it was no longer needed by the originating institution:

• Leverage ZF components for configuration management: #1141

Additionally, PR #1865 was opened by accident and immediately closed.

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

• Add governance document: #1890
• Add search backend GetQueryHelper feature: #1886
• Aleph: support for administration identifier (adm_id): #1879
• Allow translated template rendering via view helper: #1874
• FOLIO: add enumchron field to getHolding method: #1881
• Initialize search parameters from request in Recommend Ajax handler: #1884
• MARC 880 support: #1888
• MARC support for alternative scripts: #1895
• PHPStan configuration and basic fixes: #1896
• SierraRest: Add support for patron authentication methods depending on available API version: #1898
• Update from Interop\Container to Psr\Container: #1880
• Use slm/locale for Locale detection: #1885

• Clean punctuation on MARC author names at index time: VUFIND-1468
• Create mink test for excluding hierarchical facets: VUFIND-1471
• Create shared/standard template for tabbed interfaces: VUFIND-1470
• Remove or update LBS4 ILS driver: VUFIND-1473
• Use caching in SolrMarc indexing: VUFIND-1469

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

• Allow Javascript to be loaded in the header OR the footer: #1799
• Configurable truncation of subjects on full record display: #1791
• Cover backlink to vendor: #1805
• Deprecate author_fuller / author2_fuller index fields: #1782
• Fix loading of similar records tab: #1772
• makeLink view helper: #1695
• MySQL 4-byte UTF-8 support: VUFIND-1007
• Page enhancements: Comparing Languages Against English: #1755