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)
Bookmobile Service Modifications
1
Bookmobile Stop:
Published:
Friday, January 9, 2026 - 10:00am
Terryberry Branch - Elevator Out of Order
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.
1
Published:
Friday, January 9, 2026 - 12:00am
Online Resources - Update
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.
All Branches and Bookmobile Stops
Published:
Wednesday, January 7, 2026 - 11:00am
Waterdown Branch Accessible Door Out of Order
The accessibility door at Waterdown Branch is not working. We aim to fix it quickly.
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Published:
Tuesday, December 30, 2025 - 12:00pm
Printing Updates
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.
All Branches and Bookmobile Stops
Published:
Monday, December 22, 2025 - 2:00pm
Replacement and Damage Fees
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.
All Branches and Bookmobile Stops
Published:
Thursday, September 11, 2025 - 3:00pm
Desjardins Canal Disaster
On March 12, 1857, the 6:15 Great Western Railway train from Toronto crashed through the railway bridge spanning the Desjardins Canal. The accident left fifty-nine people dead and made international headlines. The following article appeared in the April 4, 1857 issue of Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper.
THE CALAMITOUS RAILROAD ACCIDENT AT BURLINGTON HEIGHTS
OVER THE DES JARDINES CANAL, CANADA.
---------------------------
Scenes at the Place of the Disaster!
The Bodies Found!
Recognizing the Dead!
Appearances of the Remains of the Bridge and Cars.
The Bridge and its Construction.
The Last Melancholy Scene at the Bridge.
&c., &c., &c.,
The conductors of the railway raising the ruins of the cars. From a sketch by Mr. Lum. (Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, 4 April 1857: 273.)
The railway train from Toronto (Canada West) was due at Hamilton at a quarter past six o'clock P.M., Thursday, March the 12th. It came on from Toronto as usual, and was proceeding at a moderate speed to cross the trestle or swinging bridge of the Des Jardines canal. The chasm, sixty feet deep, over which this bridge was erected, was made by cutting an outlet for the canal through Burlington heights. At the time of the accident the water was covered with ice about two feet thick. The moment the train reached the bridge the immense weight crushed through the timbers, and the whole structure gave way, and, with one frightful crash, the engine, tender, baggage car and two first-class passenger cars broke through the severed frame-work, and leaped headlong into the yawning abyss below. The engine and tender crushed at once through the ice. The baggage car, striking the corner of the tender in the act of falling, was thrown to one side and fell some ten yards from the engine. The first passenger car rushed after, and turning as it descended, fell on its roof, breaking partly through the ice, and being crushed to atoms, while the last car fell endways on the ice, and, strange to say, remained in that position.
