Classes, Courses, and Events

Wanting to bring your idea to life? Discover how the Independence Public Library can help with our self-paced course in BeanStack, and in-person and virtual classes and events!

Maker Space

The library provides a collaborative workspace for making, learning, exploring, and sharing. We offer a variety of tools, software, and equipment to make your dreams come to life.

Resources

Browse our small business and entrepreneurial books today! Don’t have time to make it to the library to see our selection of Small Business books? Browse our digital shelf and place items on hold that can be picked up at your convenience.

About Cultivate Indy Small Business Lab

The Cultivate Indy Small Business Lab has a variety of resources for the community to utilize to start and grow their small business. Our small business lab and events are designed for Makers, Start-Ups, Nonprofits, and Small Businesses. Makers are individuals who are involved in the DIY and technology-based cultures, as well as more traditional activities such as metalworking, woodworking, and arts and crafts. Makers are individuals who build, create, and develop new ideas. If you are someone looking to “start-up” your small business idea? This is the place to begin. Start-ups typically refer to a tech company that has a stellar business idea, with interest from big players in the industry that raises early rounds of capital, and uses that funding to prove their business model in the market. We at the Independence Public Library want to help you take your stellar business idea and see it to fruition. If you already have an established small business, home-based or hand-made business, the Independence Public Library can help you scale and grow your business. The Independence Public Library is committed to helping nonprofits launch their work as well. A nonprofit organization is a legal entity organized and operated fora a collective, public or social benefit. Whether you are a maker, start-up, grower, nonprofit, or anything in between, the Cultivate Indy Small Business Lab is for you!

The Cultivate Indy Small Business Lab and Maker Space was made possible through a grant from the American Library Association in partnership with Google. The Independence Public Library received $68,927 from the American Library Association to build a small business lab and expand our programming to small businesses and entrepreneurs from low-income and underrepresented groups. The Independence Public Library was one of 13 public libraries around the country to receive this funding from Libraries Build Business (LBB), an initiative of the American Library Association funded by Google.org. “ ALA is thrilled to support and work collaboratively with the Independence Public Library and the entire LBB cohort,” said ALA Associate Executive Director Kathi Kromer. “We are impressed by the innovation and institutional commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion the Independence Public Library has demonstrated in developing their small business offerings.”