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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.

Check out books

Program Details

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.

Program Highlights

READING LIST

Unearthed Novel Conversations Collection

In honor of our Unearthed initiative, we’ve created a book collection for the Novel Conversations lending library.

Check it out
News

Novel Conversations 2021 Year in Review

Our annual recap featuring the top books and authors checked out by users of our Novel Conversations program, a free lending library for book clubs. Curious what they read?

Read more
News

Book Club Celebrates 40th Anniversary

Members of an Indianapolis book club reached out to Novel Conversations to donate books from the long list they've read during their four decades of convening.

Get inspired
Webinar

How to Host a Virtual Book Club

Programs and Special Projects Manager Bronwen Carlisle gives tips for hosting a successful virtual book club meeting.

Watch now

Resources

Use these resources to find your next book selections and plan dynamic club meetings.

Partners and Sponsors

Questions?

Contact us:
novelconversations@indianahumanities.org | 317.975.0060

 

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