Gene Wilburn at the Royal Ontario Museum has written a HOW-TO [1] for setting up public kiosks. While its current version doesn't cover several important issues for those wishing to lock down public workstations in libraries, he calls for contributions in those areas. The complete text of the Kiosk HOW-TO is online [2] and waiting for your review.
Links:
[1] http://www.linux.org/help/howto.html
[2] http://www.rom.on.ca/kiosk/HOWTO/