Study Halls at Central Library and Dundas, Red Hill, Terryberry, Turner Park, Valley Park, and Waterdown branches resume on Tuesday, September 2. They will be open after-hours Mondays-Thursdays from 8 pm to Midnight. www.hpl.ca/study-halls
Due to campus events, McMaster University's Bookmobile Visits for Tuesdays, August 26 and September 2 (3:30-4:30 pm) have been cancelled. Service is expected to resume on Tuesday, September 9. Thank you for your understanding.
The accessibility door at Carlisle Branch is not working. We aim to fix it quickly.
The Rymal Road entrance to the facility will be unavailable today due to an event at the YMCA. Access to the parking lot, accessible parking spaces, back entrance, and external drop box remains available. Thank you for your patience.
All HPL Branches are closed on Sunday, August 31, and Labour Day, Monday, September 1st. Bookmobile is off the road, and Extended Access is not available. Regular service hours resume Tuesday, September 2. www.hpl.ca/hours
Due to a mid-day fire drill, Turner Park Branch and Les Chater Family YMCA are closed for a fire drill from noon-1 pm. Thank you for your patience.
Due to roof repair maintenance, the Branch is temporarily closed from September 2 until October 10. Please visit the Red Hill, Parkdale, and Barton locations as your nearest branches for your library needs. On August 28-29, there may be some noise disruptions and limited parking spots while the roof repair set-up begins. Thank you for your patience.
Peer Support Workers Help Struggling Members at Central Library
HAMILTON – Wed Jan 22, 2025 - Hamilton Public Library (HPL) recently welcomed four new Peer Support Workers, Misty Thaler, Mike Lavelle, Paul Dolhun and Harrison Wheeler to Central Library.
The workers from Canadian Mental Health Association Hamilton (CMHA) began their work of helping Members with mental illness and addiction struggles on Jan 13.
Misty, Mike, Paul and Harrison will support Members in many ways, including counselling, helping them connect with local financial, housing and food resources and completing referral forms as needed.
The Peer Support program is a one-year pilot. Getting to this launch date took a year. Throughout the year, HPL and CMHA will measure the success of this partnership through testimony and data to determine potential expansion.
Peer support is an evidence-based, essential core service for addressing the complex needs of people with mental health and addictions concerns in community spaces like libraries.
“This partnership is an example of how HPL is working with partners to support residents in our spaces, while we focus on providing public library service. A special thank you to Dr. James Gillet from McMaster University and his team. Our research partnerships with them resulted in facilitating this shared effort between HPL and CMHA Hamilton,” said HPL CEO Paul Takala.
“CMHA Peer Support Workers leverage their lived experience, deep empathy and expertise in navigating Hamilton’s health and social services and will provide easily accessible support to people in need at Central Library,” said CMHA Hamilton CEO Sue Phipps.
HPL and CMHA are grateful to McMaster University’s Community Research Platform for facilitating the partnership and their evaluation of this innovative collaboration.