Cold Weather Alert for the City of Hamilton

Cold Weather Alert for the City of Hamilton Monday January 19, 2026.

The temperature is expected to plummet below minus 15 Celsius. For warm place hours visit hpl.ca/hours

For a list of shelters and health information visit www.hamilton.ca/cold

Published:
Monday, January 19, 2026 - 4:00pm
Central Library – Digital Microfilm Machines

The digital microfilm machines at Central Library are not working. A single analog machine is available in the Local History and Archives Reading Room. This reader does not support printing. We apologize for the inconvenience and aim to have the digital devices repaired as soon as possible.

Published:
Monday, January 19, 2026 - 1:45pm
Online Resources - Update

The following eResources have been recently discontinued in our HPL collections: Novelist, Summa, Summa Kids, and Northstar Digital Literacy. Please visit www.hpl.ca/articles/read-watch-listen for our full listing of online resources for your next read, watch, listen and/or learn.

Published:
Wednesday, January 7, 2026 - 11:00am
Waterdown Branch Accessible Door Out of Order

The accessibility door at Waterdown Branch is not working. We aim to fix it quickly.

Published:
Tuesday, December 30, 2025 - 12:00pm
Printing Updates

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.

Published:
Monday, December 22, 2025 - 2:00pm
Replacement and Damage Fees

Bring back your borrowed library items within 28 days to avoid a replacement or lost fee. We'll remove the fee when you bring back your overdue items. 

Published:
Thursday, September 11, 2025 - 3:00pm

Requesting Items

Closeup of books on a shelf

If an item you want to borrow is currently not available, you can reserve it by placing a hold. You can place a hold on most items using our online catalogue, by phone or at any library branch.

See our Borrowing FAQs for more information on placing a hold.

If the item you are looking for is not in the HPL catalogue, you can ask us to consider adding it to our collection by filling out the Suggest for Purchase form. Alternatively, you can request a book from library systems outside of HPL with our ILLO Request Form.