Cool Places - Heat Warning

The Medical Officer of Health for the City of Hamilton has initiated a Heat Warning starting Saturday, July 5.  Heat Warnings stay in effect until they are cancelled or escalated to an Extended Heat Warning. 

All HPL Branches are open as Cool Places during our open service hours. www.hpl.ca/hours

Branch Hours This Week | HPL

 

All Branches and Bookmobile Stops
Published:
Friday, July 4, 2025 - 2:00pm
Terryberry Branch Elevator Out of Order

The parking lot elevator at Terryberry Branch is not working. Members will need to use the accessible ramp at the Mohawk entrance and the inner elevator. We're working to get it fixed quickly.

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Published:
Saturday, May 31, 2025 - 1:00pm
Public Computers - Audio Volume

Please note that the audio volume levels on our public computers are having issues. The estimated time of disruption is unknown at this time. Thank you for your patience.

 

All Branches and Bookmobile Stops
Published:
Thursday, May 29, 2025 - 4:00pm
Mount Hope Branch Accessibile Ramp Not Available

The accessibility ramp at Mount Hope Branch is damaged. The handrail is not available. The ramp will not be available while being repaired. We aim to fix it quickly.

Published:
Friday, May 23, 2025 - 4:30pm

Project History

Aerial view of the industrial harbourfront
Aerial view of Hamilton's industrial harbourfront

Since 1914, Hamilton Public Library has collected, preserved and curated historical materials, incuding, clipping files, archives, rare books, periodicals, historical memorabilia, pamphlets, photographs and topical scrapbooks on a wide range of topics about Hamilton. The collection includes more than three million images depicting the history of the city and surrounding areas dating from the mid-1800s.

 
The PreVIEW Digitization project started in October 2004 as a sustainable approach to digitization at Hamilton Public Library. Two-dimensional, non-textual historical images, including photographs, negatives, glass negatives, posters, maps, and postcards from the 1850s to the 1950s, were selected from the collection and targeted for digitization.

 
The project makes digital images accessible online, providing a resource for students, researchers, educators and the general public.  It raises public awareness of the library’s tremendous resources through online exhibitions and library programs and lead to substantially increased use.  Access is global, showcasing HPL's collection far beyond our traditional physical reach.  Digitization also enables the preservation and conservation of the library’s image collections, and affirms a responsibility to protect rare materials while making them publicly accessible.

 
Our focus in the coming years is to digitize more of the collection and increase access to more images with the use of online digital formats. More than 13,000 historical images are available online, with high-resolution copies.