diff --git a/config/vufind/config.ini b/config/vufind/config.ini
index 6cd00a689f97c5dde828ecb3c6f6fef3acbff17d..ee34534db38b092575efb32323950612f6a859f4 100644
--- a/config/vufind/config.ini
+++ b/config/vufind/config.ini
@@ -553,6 +553,11 @@ url             = https://www.myendnoteweb.com/EndNoteWeb.html
 ;host = your.proxy.server
 ;port = 8000
 
+; Default HTTP settings can be loaded here. These values will be passed to
+; the \Zend\Http\Client's setOptions method.
+[Http]
+;sslcapath = "/etc/ssl/certs"
+
 ; Spelling Suggestions
 ;
 ; Note: These settings affect the VuFind side of spelling suggestions; you
diff --git a/module/VuFind/config/module.config.php b/module/VuFind/config/module.config.php
index 846c537fbca9c03afde30b4cd4e106e8edbde41e..20a5ff76e25b0003c214fd74c9a78aa62e37156d 100644
--- a/module/VuFind/config/module.config.php
+++ b/module/VuFind/config/module.config.php
@@ -187,7 +187,9 @@ $config = array(
                         $options['proxy_port'] = $config->Proxy->port;
                     }
                 }
-                return new \VuFindHttp\HttpService($options);
+                $defaults = isset($config->Http)
+                    ? $config->Http->toArray() : array();
+                return new \VuFindHttp\HttpService($options, $defaults);
             },
             'VuFind\HMAC' => function ($sm) {
                 return new \VuFind\Crypt\HMAC(
diff --git a/module/VuFindHttp/src/VuFindHttp/HttpService.php b/module/VuFindHttp/src/VuFindHttp/HttpService.php
index 1a71f5695ffea3dd10967073204b727b6f5b6ac3..ce027a100a7c74454c68a6284723df76524ef1d1 100644
--- a/module/VuFindHttp/src/VuFindHttp/HttpService.php
+++ b/module/VuFindHttp/src/VuFindHttp/HttpService.php
@@ -40,7 +40,6 @@ namespace VuFindHttp;
  */
 class HttpService implements HttpServiceInterface
 {
-
     /**
      * Regular expression matching a request to localhost.
      *
@@ -57,6 +56,13 @@ class HttpService implements HttpServiceInterface
      */
     protected $proxyConfig;
 
+    /**
+     * Default client options.
+     *
+     * @var array
+     */
+    protected $defaults;
+
     /**
      * Default adapter
      *
@@ -68,12 +74,15 @@ class HttpService implements HttpServiceInterface
      * Constructor.
      *
      * @param array $proxyConfig Proxy configuration
+     * @param array $defaults    Default HTTP options
      *
      * @return void
      */
-    public function __construct (array $proxyConfig = array())
-    {
+    public function __construct (array $proxyConfig = array(),
+        array $defaults = array()
+    ) {
         $this->proxyConfig = $proxyConfig;
+        $this->defaults = $defaults;
     }
 
     /**
@@ -188,6 +197,9 @@ class HttpService implements HttpServiceInterface
     ) {
         $client = new \Zend\Http\Client();
         $client->setMethod($method);
+        if (!empty($this->defaults)) {
+            $client->setOptions($this->defaults);
+        }
         if (null !== $this->defaultAdapter) {
             $client->setAdapter($this->defaultAdapter);
         }