With support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, in 2019 ITHAKA launched an initiative to help improve higher education in prison and reduce barriers for student research. This presentation will provide an update on the project, which includes two components, a research agenda focused on understanding postsecondary education in prison, and a technological intervention designed to increase access to JSTOR, a digital library of scholarly research. Project staff will provide updates on the research, along with a preview of an improved prototype for accessing JSTOR in an offline environment.

1. Alex Humphreys
@abhumphreys
NCHEP 2019
November 16, 2019
Expanding
JSTOR’s Support
for Higher Ed in Prison

2. ITHAKA is a not-for-profit organization that helps the academic
community use digital technologies to preserve the scholarly record
and to advance research and teaching in sustainable ways.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit
digital library of academic
journals, books, and
primary sources.
Ithaka S+R is a not-for-profit
research and consulting
service that helps academic,
cultural, and publishing
communities thrive in the
digital environment.
Portico is a not-for-profit
preservation service for
digital publications, including
electronic journals, books,
and historical collections.
Artstor provides 2+ million
high-quality images and
digital asset management
software to enhance
scholarship and teaching.

3. JSTOR Labs works with partner publishers,
libraries and labs to create tools for
researchers, teachers and students that are
immediately useful – and a little bit magical.

4. JSTOR
OUR HISTORY
JSTOR was created in 1995 to help libraries address cost
issues and save on shelf space.
JSTOR helped libraries to repurpose space, share the costs of digital
storage and preservation, and spread access for users.
Since JSTOR’s launch in 1997, we have continued to expand the
platform, adding current journals, books, and primary sources.

5. JSTOR
WHERE ARE WE TODAY?
More than 11,000 libraries from 170+ countries
currently provide access to JSTOR.
Content has been consistently added since JSTOR’s launch. More
than 79 million pages of journal content plus nearly 80,000 books
and 2 million primary sources are now available and preserved.

6. SUPPORT FOR
HIGHER EDUCATION
IN PRISON
2007 – initial request from Bard Prison Initiative
Objective: a method for students without Internet access to search
JSTOR and select relevant content for their research
Solution: Offline browser that provides a searchable index of content
on JSTOR, but not the full-text of documents. Requires students to
request needed content, and instructors or librarians to find, print, and
deliver.

7. 1. Student
searches
2. Requests
interesting
articles from
program staff
3. Staff return to
campus
4. Staff print
article
5. Printed article
returned to
facility
6. Media review
7. Student reads!

9. CURRENT SOLUTION
IS LIMITED
• Limited information for evaluating relevance of content
• Static dataset without access to full-text onsite
• No contextual help or instructional materials
• Turnaround time for students to receive content
• Highly manual process for JSTOR
• Highly manual process for program administrators to install
• Solution does not work in all environments

10. TODAY
19 programs have received the index.
We hear that JSTOR is one of very few academic resources that has
ventured a solution for PEPs.
We see potential for improving the process, index, content, instructor
experience, and student success.

11. Expanding JSTOR’s Support
for Higher Education in Prison

12. JSTOR’s long term goal:
Provide full access to JSTOR to as many
higher education in prison programs as
possible.

13. JSTOR’s long term goal:
Provide full access to JSTOR to as many
higher education in prison programs as
possible.
JSTOR’s goal for this project:
Improve and test JSTOR’s offline
solution in order to learn what it will
take to expand access to it.

14. PROJECT APPROACH
• Form and meet with Advisory Committee
• Identify test cohort candidates

16. Simplify
process,
remove steps
Content
ratings and
tracking
approvals
Devices
Servers
and IT

17. PROJECT APPROACH
• Recruit test cohort
• Design solution
• Conduct user research
• Conduct feasibility assessment
• Collaborative design workshop with test cohort
• Build solution

18. TEST COHORT
Program State
Calvin Prison Initiative MI
Cornell Prison Education Program NY
Freedom Education Project Puget Sound WA
Prison University Project CA
Community University Project, Stetson U FL
• Selected through consultation with Advisory Committee
• We sought diverse programs that could implement on a rapid
timeline

21. PROJECT APPROACH
• Create documentation
• Implement at test cohort

22. SUPPORTING MATERIALS
Topics
● Documentation for implementing the new index
● Interface and functionality documentation
● Best practices for integrating the offline index into teaching and student research
● Resource site for instructors
● Best practices for programs using index
● Descriptions of index and resources for Department of Corrections staff
● Exercises that use JSTOR examples to teach information literacy concepts

23. PROJECT APPROACH
• Support use at test cohort
• Gather feedback and data on usage from students, teachers and
administrators
• Document implementation best practices
• Create plan for long-term scalability and support

24. What we’re building

25. White-listing the JSTOR
website might be best, but
this is untenable at most
facilities.
(Perhaps this could be a
second project?)

26. Preferred by
Cornell and
Stetson
Preferred by
Cornell, Calvin,
PUP
Preferred by
Calvin
Preferred by
FEPPS and PUP
But with the diverse set of
constraints programs
operate under, there’s no
single solution that works
for all programs.

27. Preferred by
Cornell and
Stetson
Preferred by
Cornell, Calvin,
PUP
Preferred by
Calvin
Preferred by
FEPPS and PUP
So we’re building a system
that lets programs
configure the level and
kind of access that works
best for their situation.

28. Okay,
but what are we building?

29. Search + Content
Appliance

30. Search + Content
Appliance

31. Search + Content
Appliance
Two Modes of Use:
A. Locally hosted
server
B. Configuration
engine

32. MODE A:
LOCALLY HOSTED SERVER
1. Server installed within
facility.
2. Students access it through
wired or wireless local area
network (LAN).
3. Students search & add
interesting articles to a list
Search + Content
Appliance

33. MODE A:
LOCALLY HOSTED SERVER
4. When they’re done
researching, students
submit their set of
requests
Search + Content
Appliance

34. MODE A:
LOCALLY HOSTED SERVER
4. Program administrators
see and process all
requests, working with
DOC for approval if
required
Search + Content
Appliance

35. MODE A:
LOCALLY HOSTED SERVER
5. Some JSTOR content will
be stored locally.
Admins can:
- print it
- send/save a pdf
- make that article
permanently available w/o
review
6. For content not on the
local server, admins will
have to return to campus
Search + Content
Appliance

36. MODE B:
CONFIGURATION ENGINE
1. Server installed outside of
the facility
2. Program administrators
use it to configure material
to be put on inside tablets,
laptops, workstations and
servers via a thumb drive
Search + Content
Appliance

37. MODE B:
CONFIGURATION ENGINE
3. Admins select disciplines
to include
4. For each discipline, they
decide whether to include
just the search index, or
the content as well
5. When ready, they build
the thumb drive
Search + Content
Appliance

38. MODE B:
CONFIGURATION ENGINE
6. Admins install the
material on student
machines
7. Students then conduct
their searches, flagging
items they’re interested in
Search + Content
Appliance

39. MODE B:
CONFIGURATION ENGINE
8. When ready, their list is
reviewed and processed.
Search + Content
Appliance

41. THIS IS A WORK IN PROGRESS!
Does it make sense?
Does it *work?*
What are we missing?
What should we do differently?
What should we do *next?*

42. Thank you
Alex Humphreys
Director, JSTOR Labs
ITHAKA
labs.jstor.org
@abhumphreys
alex.humphreys@ithaka.org