All Branches Closed August 2

All HPL Branches are closed on Sunday August 2, 2026. Bookmobile is off the road and Extended Access is unavailable. Our Virtual Branch is open at hpl.ca. www.hpl.ca/hours

Published:
Friday, July 31, 2026 - 9:00am
All Branches Closed for Civic Holiday

All HPL Branches are closed on Monday August 3, 2026 for Civic Holiday. Bookmobile is off the road and Extended Access is unavailable. Our Virtual Branch is open at hpl.ca. www.hpl.ca/hours

Published:
Friday, July 31, 2026 - 8:00am
Kenilworth Branch Accessible Washroom Out of Order

The accessible washroom at Kenilworth Branch is not working. We aim to get it fixed quickly.

Published:
Thursday, July 30, 2026 - 5:45pm
New Loan Periods - Effective Monday, August 31

As of Monday, August 31, new loan periods will come into effect to shorten the wait time for popular hold items.

DVD Express - 3 days

DVDs and Blu-rays - 7 days (fiction, children's and languages) 

Magazines - 7 days

Bestseller Express - 14 days

DVDs and Blu-rays - 14 days (non-fiction and TV series)

Books - 21 days

Music/Books on CD and Children's Express - 21 days

Please visit www.hpl.ca/borrowing for more details.

Published:
Tuesday, July 28, 2026 - 2:30pm
Study Halls Pause for Summer Break

After Hours Study Hall is not available in July and August. Hours will resume Tuesday, September 8. www.hpl.ca/study-halls

Published:
Tuesday, June 23, 2026 - 3:00pm

Use of Images

Last council meeting in old City Hall, 1960
Last council meeting in old City Hall, 1960

Terms of Use

Local History and Archives' collection includes images both in the public domain and with active copyright ownership. Digital reproductions are created by Hamilton Public Library and Hamilton Public Library owns the copyright for these digital images. Images that are still in copyright must be licensed from the copyright holder.

All images are covered under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 2.5 Canada License.

Images can be used for personal or research use without prior permission. Any other use, including, but not limited to, commercial or scholarly reproductions, redistribution, publication, or transmission whether by electronic means or otherwise, without prior written permission from the Hamilton Public Library is prohibited.

The Library will grant or withhold permission on a case by case basis. Permission requests may be sent to Local History and Archives. Click here for information on purchasing a high-resolution image or sending a permission request. 

The city of Hamilton's cybersecurity-related outage has affected some of HPL's services. Our online image database, PreView, is unavailable, and we are not able to provide a timeline for its return.

Some images, such as postcards, can still be found online on Flickr.