Magazine and ILLO Delay
Magazine and ILLO deliveries are delayed due to the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) strike. Thank you for your understanding.
City IT Planned Maintenance
A City IT systems update is scheduled for early Saturday morning. This will impact access to HPL's network and some applications. This update will improve overall network capacity, performance, resiliency, reliability and is the foundation for future network updates. Thank you for your patience.
3D Printing Not Available On Sundays
Please note that 3D printing services are unavailable on Sundays. We apologize for any inconvenience.
Early Closure - All HPL Branches, Friday, November 22
Due to a special event, all HPL branches will close at 4 pm on Friday, November 22.
Central Library's 4th Floor will be closed all day except for the Newcomer Learning Centre and Makerspace which will be open until 4 pm.
Regular service hours resume on Saturday, November 23.
Thank you for your understanding.
Hamilton Public Library Donation Puts Collection on World Stage
HAMILTON, ON – May 26, 2021 – Hamilton Public Library has found a world stage for nearly 1,000 books it previously held about 18th and 19th Century theatre. The recent donation to the Internet Archive gives readers all around the world online access to the soon-to-be digitized collection.
The Internet Archive is a digital library that provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, movies/videos, moving images and millions of books.
“Through our partnership, we are so appreciative the Internet Archive is able to make the collection available to the world 24/7,” said Lisa Radha Weaver, Director of Collections and Program Development at HPL.
The rich array of books, given to HPL in 1984 by a university drama professor, details elements such as lighting and staging, history of traveling troupes, scenic design, actors and playwrights and architecture of British and American theatres.
“This helps achieve one of the original promises of the internet, as a vehicle for democratizing thought — making knowledge as broadly accessible as possible by removing geographical and physical barriers,” said Ryan Johnston, HPL’s archivist.
"We are delighted to receive this donation of theatre books from Hamilton Public Library. Having the full, curated collection to preserve and digitize means readers all around the world will have access to a comprehensive set of resources, built with care by librarians and subject specialists," said Brewster Kahle, founder and digital librarian, Internet Archive.
After the books are digitized, the print copies will be put in long-term storage and the digital books will be made available through controlled digital lending.
