Novel Conversations - Indiana Humanities

Novel Conversations is a free statewide lending library. Indiana Humanities lends more than 900 titles, primarily fiction and biography, to reading and discussion groups across Indiana, free of charge. We also have books available in several other genres, including nonfiction, mysteries, plays, poetry and young adult.

KitKeeper is shutting down. See below for more information about service interruptions in 2025.

Program Details

KITKEEPER UPDATE

KitKeeper, the online book kit reservation system, recently announced that it will permanently shut down by the end of 2024. The website and corresponding data will be inaccessible to both patrons and staff after this time.

We know that the past few years have seen several disruptions and apologize for further inconvenience. Novel Conversations is still operating during this time but with modified service. Details are discussed below.

Patron Reservations

Novel Conversations will honor reservations that were placed on KitKeeper’s website by Friday, December 20, 2024 at 5:00 PM EST. This reservation data has already been downloaded and will be used by our staff to fulfill upcoming orders.

Regarding new orders, our staff will not be able to accept them until a new reservation system is operational.

New Reservation System

Our staff is currently in the process of selecting a new reservation system to replace KitKeeper. Patrons will be notified about this new service once it is up and running.

Stay Up to Date

We appreciate your patience and understanding as we transition from KitKeeper to a new reservation system. We understand that Novel Conversations provides an important service for communities of readers across Indiana, and we are dedicated to finding a solution as soon as possible. Updates about this transition will be shared in Bulletin e-newsletters and at https://indianahumanities.org/program/novel-conversations/.

If you have any questions or need assistance during this time, please contact us at novelconversations@indianahumanities.org.

Getting Started

HOW TO REGISTER

Before making any reservations, email Novel Conversations at novelconversations@indianahumanities.org to register. In your email, include your name, address, phone number and preferred standing order of copies, and indicate if you’d like large print or audiobook copies when available. For more information about how to register and make reservations, use these instructions or email us.

HOW TO ORDER BOOKS

After you’ve completed the registration process outlined above, visit the KitKeeper portal to reserve kits.

Donating and Requesting Books

We’re always looking for donations of paperback books (minimum of eight copies per title) or additional copies of books already in our collection. Quite a lot of our newer books have been donated by libraries.

We’ve also received special funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities; the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services, administered by the Indiana State Library; and Glick Philanthropies. While we don’t have a large budget for purchasing books, we do keep a standing list of requests that we take into account when selecting any new purchases. If you’d like to donate books, suggest new titles or offer feedback about the program, please contact us.

If you’d like to receive a monthly enewsletter from Indiana Humanities, with updates about acquisitions and other information, email us at novelconversations@indianahumanities.org.

Cautions, Caveats, etc.

IMPORTANT: We ship books only on Wednesday and Friday. Orders received too late cannot be shipped until the following pickup date.
Remember, Novel Conversations is first-come, first-served. To ensure availability of the titles you want, make your reservations as far in advance as you can. We’ll record reservations in our database and ship the books at the appropriate date. If they don’t arrive when expected, please let us know.
We’ll attempt to fulfill your order, but realize that if another group loses a book or two, we may not be able to send you all the copies you requested.