Due to maintenance, the Barton Branch will be closed on Wednesday, January, 7. Please visit Central Library or Kenilworth Branch for your library needs. www.hpl.ca/hours
Photocopying and Scanning is not working at Westdale Branch. We aim to fix it as soon as possible.
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.
Bookmobile is off the road from December 25-27, December 31, and January 1st. Visit www.hpl.ca/bookmobile for our Holiday Schedule.
Due to the setup for the Noon Hour Concert, the Fourth Floor at Central Library will be closed on Friday, January 2. Makerspace and Newcomer Learning Centre will remain open. Floors 1-3 have spaces to work and study.
All branches close on Thursday, December 25, for Christmas. This includes branches with Extended Access.
All branches close on Sunday, December 28, 2025. This includes branches with Extended Access.
All branches close on Thursday January 1 for New Years Day. This includes branches with Extended Access.
All branches close on Friday, December 26, 2025 for Boxing Day . This includes branches with Extended Access.
All HPL Branches close early on Wednesday, December 24 at 1pm. Visit www.hpl.ca/hours for our Holiday Schedule.
All HPL Branches close early on Wednesday, December 31 at 1pm. This includes branches with Extended Access.
Branch Study Halls are paused Friday, December 19, 2025 through Monday, January 5, 2026. Central Library Study Hall hours resume Spring 2026.
www.hpl.ca/study-halls
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.
Black Mount Collection

This is the most used collection in Local History & Archives, as it is indexed in the department's "Where-To-Look." The images are arranged alphabetically by location (Ancaster, Barton, Hamilton, etc.) and then alphabetically by subject heading (Banks, Grocery Stores, Portraits, Schools, Streets, etc). Within each subject heading, they are arranged alphabetically by name, and then within each named unit, chronologically by date.
It is only the broad subject heading or name heading that is indexed in the "Where-To-Look." Other information, such as the names of stores on a King Street photograph, is not indexed.
Some of the photographs were copied by the HPL photographer. In cases where a negative exists, the negative number will be written on the back of the mount on the security label.
The entire Black Mount collections consists of roughly 20,000 images, ranging in date from the 1850's to the present.








