You may want to take a look at the nonprofit The Last Mile,
https://thelastmile.org/
They have developed a secure learning management system that meets the
requirements of San Quentin and use it to teach prisoners how to code.  It
looks very close to what you are looking for.

Thanks,

Jeff

On Tue, Nov 12, 2019 at 8:09 AM Kyle Breneman <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:

> Thanks, all, for your helpful responses.  It looks like Greenstone may be
> the most workable solution for the moment, although I am intrigued by your
> article, Julia.
>
> Regards,
> Kyle
>
> On Mon, Nov 11, 2019 at 4:36 PM Julia Bauder <[log in to unmask]>
> wrote:
>
> > Hi, Kyle,
> >
> > I did almost this exact thing several years ago (created an offline
> library
> > catalog for a prison education program) and wrote it up for the Code4Lib
> > Journal:  https://journal.code4lib.org/articles/6225 . The code, based
> on
> > an old version of VuFind, is incredibly outdated by now, but the
> principles
> > should still hold, and it would work for #2 if you indexed article
> metadata
> > rather than book metadata. I've indexed JSTOR metadata into VuFind (not
> for
> > the prison catalog, for a different thing), so I know that works.
> Somewhere
> > (I think) I still have the mapping I used to do that, and I'm happy to
> > share it, if you want it.  You would just need to sign a rider with JSTOR
> > to get them to give you the files of metadata for JSTOR articles.
> >
> > Julia
> >
> >
> >
> ........................................................................................
> >
> > Julia Bauder
> >
> > Social Studies and Data Services Librarian
> >
> > Consulting librarian for anthropology, economics,
> >
> > education, political science, sociology,
> >
> > global development studies, and policy studies
> >
> >
> >
> > On Mon, Nov 11, 2019 at 1:07 PM Kyle Banerjee <[log in to unmask]>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > On Mon, Nov 11, 2019 at 10:06 AM Kyle Breneman <
> [log in to unmask]>
> > > wrote:
> > >
> > > > My university has a program that offers classes at a nearby prison,
> and
> > > > this program is about to get a bunch of new laptops.  As many of  you
> > > know,
> > > > prisons are pretty restrictive and inflexible regarding technology...
> > > >
> > >
> > > My gut reaction would be to schedule a meeting with people who decide
> > > what's acceptable.
> > >
> > > Many things presented as security measures are really compliance
> issues.
> > > This means engaging people can help you avoid problems outright,
> > negotiate
> > > paths through gray areas in ways that pass muster, and make people
> who'd
> > > otherwise shoot you down part of the solution.
> > >
> > > Many environments subscribe to "checkbox" security model. Failure to
> meet
> > > required checkboxes or triggering undesirable ones gets you rejected.
> > This
> > > means your goal -- and the goal you present -- is to get all the right
> > > boxes checked. Don't get too hung up on common sense or actual
> technical
> > > merit.
> > >
> > > You might want to have a couple approaches in your back pocket to
> propose
> > > if the meeting goes really well. I suspect a more realistic expectation
> > > would be to sent back to the drawing board. I'd avoid anything people
> > might
> > > have trouble processing like the plague. People always say no when they
> > > don't know what's going on, and that can color future interactions with
> > > you. Good luck on your project
> > >
> > > kyle
> > >
> >
>


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