Discovery Café

Enriching communities through local libraries

Discovery Café is bringing Indiana University resources to local libraries throughout southwest central Indiana. This initiative facilitates connections with libraries to provide presentations and programming across diverse topics through in-person and virtual formats.

As a librarian, you can partner with Discovery Café to support and enhance learning opportunities, discover resources, and implement valuable services for your community.

Connect your library to Discovery Café

IU partners

  • Jacobs School of Music
  • Kelley School of Business
  • Hamilton Lugar SGIS
  • School of Education
  • IU Corps
  • Herman B Wells Library

Programming opportunities

  • Information sessions and workshops
    • Partnering with the Center for Rural Engagement
    • ABCD (Asset Based Community Development)
    • Indiana Resilience Funding Hub
    • Building community resilience hubs
    • Food as medicine and sustainable food systems
    • Food insecurity
  • Film screenings

  • Explore the world with global picture books
  • Discuss any one of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and its local and global impacts
  • Global literacy invitations to learn about countries, peoples, and cultures
  • Hear from an expert on a particular country/topic
  • Local action, global impacts
  • Global current events and local repercussions
  • Indiana in the world
  • Language introduction sessions for rarely taught languages
  • Dual language story time (Arabic/Persian/Kurdish-English)
  • Global careers in Indiana
  • Supporting migrants and refugees in Indiana communities
  • Global film screenings and discussions
  • Human trafficking
  • Introduction to the contemporary Arab world
  • US foreign policy in the Middle East
  • History of China
  • Ritual and the dead in China
  • East Asian Fermentation
  • Medieval Japanese history
  • Korean pop culture
  • Japan and the environment
  • Lunar New Year
  • Taiwan and China
  • Haitian Creole programming
  • Indigenous languages
  • World music
  • Indigenous communities and the climate crisis
  • Food insecurity in indigenous communities

  • Database management
  • Guide/handbook creation
  • Communications, strategy, and marketing plan creation
  • Website development

  • Musical performances
  • Instrument petting zoo
  • Early childhood music activities
  • Online music teaching and learning tools
  • Introduction to music reading
  • Making pop music together online (Beats, Loops, and Tunes: Oh My!)
  • Introduction to playing various instruments
  • Introduction to music from from various regions and cultures

  • Market research
  • Business consulting
  • Entrepreneurial workshops
  • Networking events
  • Financial literacy programs
  • Technology training
  • Supply chain optimization
  • Sustainable practices consulting
  • Tourism development
  • Social media management
  • Sourcing funds
  • E-commerce solutions
  • Cultural preservation support through economic initiatives
  • Health and wellness programs

  • Juvenile justice and mental health
  • Supporting children with challenging behaviors in the family home
  • Mental health and stigma
  • Trauma-informed care
  • Veteran well-being

Connect your library with Discovery Café

If you are affiliated with a public library and would like to connect with us to develop programs or discuss a new partnership opportunity, please complete our meeting request form.

Complete the form

Join us for Discover Hours

We will be hosting virtual Discover Hours, where you can drop in to discuss partnership opportunities, ask questions, and schedule services for your library. Have questions? Please contact us at dlberrie@iu.edu.

Tuesdays, 1-2 p.m.

Join via Zoom

Fridays, 11 a.m.-12 p.m.

Join via Zoom