Please note the following service changes.
Saturdays
Riverdale (150 Violet Drive): 11:15 am-12:15 pm (previously stopped on Tuesdays at 11 am-12 pm)
Discovery Centre (Pier 8, Seasonal): 2:30-4 pm (new time)
Please note the following service changes.
Saturdays
Riverdale (150 Violet Drive): 11:15 am-12:15 pm (previously stopped on Tuesdays at 11 am-12 pm)
Discovery Centre (Pier 8, Seasonal): 2:30-4 pm (new time)
The Branch is open today, Friday, January 9. Our elevator by the parking lot entrance is out of order.
To use our second elevator, enter through the Mohawk Road entrance (which features a ramp) and use the elevator located in the middle of the building. The estimated time of disruption is unknown. Thank you for your understanding.
The following eResources have been recently discontinued in our HPL collections: Novelist, Summa, Summa Kids, and Northstar Digital Literacy. Please visit www.hpl.ca/articles/read-watch-listen for our full listing of online resources for your next read, watch, listen and/or learn.
The accessibility door at Waterdown Branch is not working. We aim to fix it quickly.
Daily print balances for black and white and colour printing change January 2, 2026. The new daily print balance is 40 cents. Members receive four free black and white copies or two free colour copies.
Large format and vinyl printing pricing also change on January 2. Visit https://www.hpl.ca/makerspaces for updates.
Bring back your borrowed library items within 28 days to avoid a replacement or lost fee. We'll remove the fee when you bring back your overdue items.
These plans are valuable maps for building research. They are large scale maps that show shape, size and exact location of individual buildings. They provide detail about the construction materials, outbuildings and neighbourhoods.
The Canadiana collection includes books about Canada, written by Canadians, published by Canadians, or having something to do with the history of Canada.
Research your house with our wealth of resources useful in historical building research.
Local History & Archives has many resources to help you research your family history.
A brief history of the LH&A Department of Hamilton Public Library
Access more than 70,000 free Canadian Government publications, digitized by Internet Archive Canada.
Tax assessment records can help in accurate dating of the construction of the building as well as disclosing the original owner and a list of occupants.
Historical records for the City of Hamilton
City Directories show an alphabetical listing of street addresses which can be cross-referenced with an alphabetical listing of surnames.
Historypin is an image-mapping project using archival photographs
There are many rare and wonderful treasures in Local History and Archives.
This amazing resource is an up-to-date source for finding information about Hamilton in Local History and Archives
Local History and Archives Rules of Use: an outline of member's responsibilities in partnering with staff to preserve the Local History and Archives collection
Visit Local History and Archives at Central Branch, 3rd floor.
In the early 1940's, vandalism and other occurrences began to increase in frequency in the parks. Fred Marshal, one of Hamilton's parks superintendents, worked to reverse this trend.