The Winona (11am-12pm) and Queen Victoira (3-4pm) Bookmobile stop on January 23 is cancelled. Apologies for this inconvenience.
Cold Weather Alert for the City of Hamilton January 22, 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.
The accessible washroom at Parkdale Branch is not working. We aim to get it fixed quickly.
Filming will take place at 86 Homewood Avenue from January 28-30, 7 am-11 pm. Production vehicles and equipment will be located on the north side of Stanley Avenue between Locke Street South and Kent Street. This will impact the availability of side-street parking. Thank you for your patience.
Effective Sunday, February 1, Sunday service hours at Central Library will be paused.
Sunday Hours will continue at Dundas, Red Hill, Terryberry, Turner Park, Valley Park and Waterdown Branches from 1-5pm.
Starting Monday, February 2, Central Library's daily hours will move back to a 9 am opening instead of 8 am, Monday through Saturday. Please make note of this new service change for your next visit. www.hpl.ca/hours
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.
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.
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.
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.
Spotlight on Local
HPL supports and showcases the talents of local authors, musicians, film makers and artists and encourages everyone to celebrate local talent. Join an Author Event at one of our 23 branches.
Check out and find Spotlight on Local collections on display throughout HPL branches.
Local authors, interested in seeing your book in HPL’s collection?
Titles can be added in both print and eBook formats. Submissions are reviewed within the context of the library’s established selection criteria outlined in the Collections Policy.
Any author or creator who possesses an active HPL Discovery card to be a "Local Author" in a relation to this policy. If you qualify for a HPL Discovery card, but do not currently have one, please visit your local branch, or get a Library Card Online.
Due to the volume of submissions, we are unable to contact or meet with authors individually, nor are we able to confirm whether or not we have decided to add the work. If accepted, the item will be purchased and added to our catalogue.
eBooks
Self-published eBooks can be submitted to the Indie Author Project for consideration. After it’s vetted, it may then be added to the Indie Ontario Collection on Biblioboard. If you require software to create your eBook, Pressbooks will help you design and format it.
- Complete the form below to have your book considered for purchase.
- Ensure suggested titles are in our vendor’s catalogue: https://www.whitehots.com/library/
- We recommend authors send information about their books, including reviews to askus@hpl.ca for review and consideration.
- Please note that items delivered to the library will be treated as donations and become the property of Hamilton Public Library. We are unable to return an items if we decide not to include it in our collection.
- Books are not purchased on consignment.







