Bookmobile Service Modifications

Please note the following service changes.

Saturdays
Riverdale (150 Violet Drive): 11:15 am-12:15 pm (previously stopped on Tuesdays at 11 am-12 pm)
Discovery Centre (Pier 8, Seasonal): 2:30-4 pm (new time)

1
Affected Branch: Bookmobile
Nearest Branches: 
Bookmobile Stop: 
Published:
Friday, January 9, 2026 - 10:00am
Terryberry Branch - Elevator Out of Order

The Branch is open today, Friday, January 9. Our elevator by the parking lot entrance is out of order. 

To use our second elevator, enter through the Mohawk Road entrance (which features a ramp) and use the elevator located in the middle of the building. The estimated time of disruption is unknown. Thank you for your understanding.

 

1
Published:
Friday, January 9, 2026 - 12:00am
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.

All Branches and Bookmobile Stops
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.

1
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.

All Branches and Bookmobile Stops
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. 

All Branches and Bookmobile Stops
Published:
Thursday, September 11, 2025 - 3:00pm

Hamilton Spectator Collection

Boxing at St. Mary’s Boxing Club, April 7, 1959
Boxing at St. Mary’s Boxing Club, 1959-04-07

In 1978, the Executive Editor of the Spectator newspaper arranged to begin transferring their reference files of photographic negatives and news clippings to Local History & Archives [then Special Collections]. The arrangement was that the Spectator would only hold the most recent five years worth of negatives and all negatives older than that would be transferred.

Over the years other material has been transferred including:

Hamilton Spectator Daily Negatives

The negatives taken by staff photographers for the daily edition of the newspaper. They are filed chronologically by the date the photograph appeared in the newspaper. There is no master index; therefore, to find the image required, you must know the day the photograph appeared in the newspaper. Many of these daily negatives have been printed and added to the mounted photograph collection by subject.

These files start in 1955 and continue until 1998 with gaps.

"S" Files

These are special negatives which were removed from the daily files because of special interest or subject matter, and filed separately by title (ie. Football, Politics, People, etc.) or date range.

Murdoch Collection Listing

From November 4, 1950 until August 28, 1965, Bruce Murdoch (ca1893-1966), a Spectator photographer, wrote and illustrated a weekly series of articles about small towns in Ontario. There is a complete index of this part of the collection.

Spectator Collection Antiquarian Photographs

40 antiquarian photographs (most late 19th and early 20th century) of Hamilton and area. All have been copied and added to the mounted picture collection.

Finding Aid: R019 HOU CESH