Bookmobile Service Update

Due to the Touch-A-Truck event being cancelled, Bookmobile will be visiting its regularly scheduled Saturday sites instead (Stoney Creek Arena, Riverdale, and Discovery Centre). www.hpl.ca/bookmobile

Published:
Thursday, May 21, 2026 - 2:30pm
Central Library - Fax Machine Out of Order

Please note that the fax machine is currently out of order. The estimated time of repair is unknown. Thank you for your patience.

Published:
Thursday, May 21, 2026 - 12:00pm
Turner Park - Study Hall Cancellation

Study Hall on Thursday, May 21, is cancelled due to plumbing maintenance. Study Hall will resume on Monday, May 25. Thank you for your patience.

Published:
Wednesday, May 20, 2026 - 12:00pm
Staff Professional Development Day - All Branches Closed

All HPL Branches are closed on Friday May 29, for Staff Professional Development. Bookmobile is off the road and Extended Access service is not available. Regular service hours resume on Saturday May 30.

Visit our Virtual Branch at hpl.ca for our online resources and collections.

Published:
Thursday, May 14, 2026 - 12:00pm
Central Library: Children's Area Renovation on 2nd Floor

Renovations are currently underway for the 2nd Floor Central Children's Area. Programs are still being offered as scheduled and there is a temporary pop-up Children’s Area on the northeast side of the 2nd Floor (near the Piano Room), including access to collections and train tables. Construction is expected to be completed by late Spring. Thank you for your patience.

Published:
Monday, March 23, 2026 - 9:00am
Sherwood Branch: Renovations

As of Monday, March 2, Sherwood Branch's 2nd Floor is closed due to renovations. Makerspace, Children and Teen's collection are temporarily available on the 1st Floor. All programs will be held in the basement program room. Renovations are expected to be completed in late Spring. Thank you for your patience.

Published:
Tuesday, February 10, 2026 - 1:00pm

Discovery Space

graphic of kids with text discovery space

Explore. Discover. Learn. Visit.

Discovery Space is currently closed. Expected reopening is unknown at this time.

Discovery Spaces are fun, hands-on learning spaces created for you and your child to explore and enjoy STREAM (Science, Technology, Reading, Engineering, Art and Math) activities together.

Explore.

Research shows visiting a public library as a child is a wonderful and easy way to nurture a lifelong love of reading and learning. The more kids read, the more successful they are in school and in life.

For every DIscovery Space theme, you can access a list of great books to borrow from our collections.

Discover.

Play. The art of play helps children put thoughts and words together and connect spoken and written words with real objects and experiences.

Explore. Kids are natural explorers. At the Library, our goal is to nurture curiosity and wonder.

Explore our Discovery Spaces and have fun completing the activity sheets and engaging hands-on, creative activities. Each space has a unique theme and invites families to explore, discover and learn together.

Local History & Archives. To celebrate the City of Hamilton and all our diverse communities, we've included images from the Local History & Archives (LH&A) collection in our Discovery Spaces. LH&A has thousands of historic images of Hamilton available online.

Learn. 

Discovery Spaces use STREAM (Science, Technology, Reading, Engineering, Art and Math) activities to explore, discover and learn. 

moleculeScience activities use experiments to look at our natural environment and space.computerTechnology activities focus on digital literacy, robotics and coding by exploring simple machinesbook Reading activities explore and writing through basic literacy skillscogs and pencil Engineering activities look at understanding space, planning and design structures and movements.drama masksArts activities celebrate culture and creativity through music, storytelling and visual arts.various computations symbolsMath activities use shapes, patterns and counting to make numeracy fun.

Visit.

Discovery Spaces are designed to be inclusive of developmentally appropriate activities for kids (birth - 12 years) that support the development of literacy, learning, and motor and cognitive skills.

Each Discovery Space has a theme that highlights Hamilton's history, culture or natural environment. Themes rotate regularly across branches, with new ones always being added. 

Discovery Spaces are available at the following branches and each branch has a different theme:

  • Central Library - Storytelling & Theatre
  • Dundas - Health Sciences
  • Red Hill - Sports
  • Sherwood - Natural Environment  
  • Turner Park - Market
  • Waterdown - Manufacturing

Discovery Spaces are open when the branch is open.