City-Wide Outage, Library Service Impacted

HPL is recovering from the City of Hamilton's cybersecurity-related outage, which began Sunday February 25 and continues today, Friday November 22. Learn more.

Public computers are available at all branches.
Printing is available at all branches. Photocopying is available at all branches except for the Concession, Dundas, and Terryberry branches. Scanning is not yet available.
Public Wi-Fi is available at most branches except the Ancaster Branch.
Automatic check-ins are operating.
Makerspace services are available at select locations.

Contact Library Staff: call 289-779-7588, chat at hpl.ca, and email askus@hpl.ca. Branches are open. Check hpl.ca/events for program updates. Thank you for your patience.

Frequently Asked Questions | HPL

Publish Date:

Tuesday, November 12, 2024 - 8:00am

Notices

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Magazine and ILLO Delay

Magazine and ILLO deliveries are delayed due to the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) strike. Thank you for your understanding.

Publish Date:

Wednesday, November 20, 2024 - 8:30am

City IT Planned Maintenance

A City IT systems update is scheduled for early Saturday morning. This will impact access to HPL's network and some applications. This update will improve overall network capacity, performance, resiliency, reliability and is the foundation for future network updates. Thank you for your patience.

Publish Date:

Wednesday, November 20, 2024 - 8:00am

3D Printing Not Available On Sundays

Please note that 3D printing services are unavailable on Sundays. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Publish Date:

Thursday, November 14, 2024 - 2:00pm

Early Closure - All HPL Branches, Friday, November 22

Due to a special event, all HPL branches will close at 4 pm on Friday, November 22.

Central Library's 4th Floor will be closed all day except for the Newcomer Learning Centre and Makerspace which will be open until 4 pm.

Regular service hours resume on Saturday, November 23.

Thank you for your understanding.

Affected Branch:

Central Library

Publish Date:

Wednesday, November 13, 2024 - 2:00pm

Service Fees

For full Service Fees information, see the Service Fees Policy.

Is the Library no longer issuing fines?
The Hamilton Public Library is not charging fines for its materials as of May 2021. This ensures access to the library without fear of fines and supports the community.

What about fines accumulated before the Library went fine-free?
All fines were cleared from Members’ Library accounts. It’s a fresh start for everyone.

What about fees for lost or damaged items?
In August 2020, all Member Library accounts were given a fresh start. Lost or damaged Digital equipment or Interlibrary Loans after the fresh start will be charged a fee.

I want to borrow Library materials, but I have large fines on my account, what can I do?
All fines were wiped from Members’ accounts. See the Borrowing Policy for more information.

My account is blocked, can you tell me why?
Accounts may be blocked for several reasons: an incorrect address or phone number, the borrowing limit is reached, material is missing (ex. a disc from a CD set). To discuss why your account is blocked, please contact us. Digital resources continue to be available.

I have a lost or damaged item ‑ will I be billed for it?
The Library collects fees for digital equipment or Interlibrary loans. The Library has waived fees for lost or damaged Collection items. Please return your item to the closest branch and chat with staff.

How can the Library afford go fines free? Who is paying for this?
The amount collected by service fees declines annually and takes a lot of staff time. HPL now offers a pay-it-forward donor fund to support programming, collections and more.

I would like to pay for an item that is damaged or lost, can I do this?
Yes. Please donate or contact HPL to contribute to the Library’s programs and services.

How else can I help the Library?
There are several ways you can help HPL:

What does HPL do with the donations?
The Pay-It-Forward Fund support materials purchases, programming and quality learning resources.

There are four areas donors can direct their contributions:

Most Needed Use
Kids’ Learning Fund
Fines Forgiveness
Local History & Archives Collections

Are tax receipts offered?
Tax receipts for donations made in person are issued for all donations of $25 or more, upon request. Donations made online at hpl.ca for $3 or more are issued a tax receipt by Canada Helps.