All branches close on Sunday, December 21, 2025. This includes branches with Extended Access.
All Branches Closed Sunday December 21
All Branches and Bookmobile Stops
Published:
Monday, December 15, 2025 - 11:00am
All Branches Closed for Christmas and Boxing Day
All branches close on December 25 and 26 for Christmas and Boxing Day. This includes branches with Extended Access.
All Branches and Bookmobile Stops
Published:
Monday, December 15, 2025 - 11:00am
All Branches Closed Sunday December 28
All branches close on Sunday, December 28, 2025. This includes branches with Extended Access.
All Branches and Bookmobile Stops
Published:
Monday, December 15, 2025 - 11:00am
All Branches Closed for New Years Day
All branches close on Thursday January 1 for New Years Day. This includes branches with Extended Access.
All Branches and Bookmobile Stops
Published:
Monday, December 15, 2025 - 11:00am
Printing Unavailable at Westdale Branch
Printing is not working at Westdale Branch. We aim to fix it as soon as possible.
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Published:
Wednesday, December 10, 2025 - 10:30am
Study Halls - Holiday Break
Study Halls will be paused from Friday, December 19, and resume on Monday, January 5, 2026.
www.hpl.ca/study-halls
All Branches and Bookmobile Stops
Published:
Tuesday, December 9, 2025 - 9:15am
Telephone Service - Technical Issues
Please note that the 905-546-3200 main line is experiencing technical issues today, Monday, December 8. Members can still reach Staff at 289-779-7588 or by email or through chat online. We are working quickly to resolve the issue. Thank you for your patience.
All Branches and Bookmobile Stops
Published:
Monday, December 8, 2025 - 7:30pm
Replacement and Damage Fees
Bring back your borrowed library items (due Oct 1 or later) within 28 days to avoid a replacement or lost fee. We'll remove the fee when you bring back your overdue items.
All Branches and Bookmobile Stops
Published:
Thursday, September 11, 2025 - 3:00pm
Research Your House
New House in Westdale
Various sources can be used to document the history of a building. Except for well-known Hamilton-area homes, most do not have a ready-made history to consult. Therefore, the researcher must construct a history from scratch using available sources. This process can take time, and unfortunately, some properties may have very few, if any, historical records. To support your research, please refer to the Houses and Property Research Guide.
Local History and Archives contains various potentially useful resources to research houses. These records include:
These directories show names, addresses and telephone numbers for the Hamilton-Wentworth region.
Researchers and genealogists use city directories to trace individuals, families and businesses. They usually include an alphabetical listing of adult residents, with their occupations and addresses.
Tax assessment records help accurately date a building's construction and disclose its original owner and list of occupants.
These records detail the chain of ownership of a property using plan and lot number.
Local History and Archives has several large scale maps that show the shape, size and exact location of individual buildings.
If your building was known by a name in addition to its address, you can search under that heading in our card catalogue. In the Local History and Archives reading room, check the Where-to-Look card catalogue under Hamilton – Street Address and Number or Hamilton – Name of house for a citation to the Image Collection. You can also check photographs of the street the house is located on to see if your building is shown.
There are also specialized finding aids for other collections available in Local History and Archives.
To obtain more information about the people associated with the building, you may wish to check family papers, clipping files, census returns, genealogical indexes, funeral home indexes, cemetery indexes, promotional booklets, photographs, local publications and other sources within Local History and Archives.
Check in the Where-to-Look under the surname or ask for assistance at the Local History and Archives Information Desk.
There are also invaluable records that can be requested through the City of Hamilton's Property Record Search and through the Ontario Land Registry (OnLand).
