Mount Hope Branch - Photocopy and Scanning Unavailable
Photocopying and scanning are currently not available at Mount Hope Branch. Printing is available. Estimated time of disruption is unknown. Thank you for your patience.
Printing Unavailable- Concession branch
Printing is not available at the Concession Branch today, Tuesday March 11. Estimated time of disruption is unknown at this time. Thank you for your patience.
Phishing Scheme
Please be aware of online phishing attempts impersonating Hamilton Public Library and Library Staff. HPL does not solicit paid freelance opportunities through social media or other messaging applications. HPL does not request personal or banking information through social media or require financial compensation when reviewing job applications. Please report phishing schemes to communications@hpl.ca. If you think you are a victim of fraud, please call the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre at 1-888-495-8501.
Turner Park Branch - Large Format Printer Unavailable
The large format printer at Turner Park is currently unavailable. Please utilize our other Makerspace locations if needed. We will advise once it is restored to service.
Roadwork near Barton Branch
Starting Monday March 17, the City of Hamilton begins roadwork on Wilson Street and Sherman Avenue. The construction will be completed in stages until December 2025. There may be traffic delays if you are planning to visit the Barton Branch.
Online Images

The City of Hamilton's cybersecurity-related outage has affected some of the services offered by HPL. Our online image database PreView is unavailable, and we are unable to provide a timeline for its return. Some images, such as postcards, can be found online on Flickr. You are also welcome to visit the archives where photographs are available by request. Kindly note that such requests require specific subjects or people of interest, which can be researched in our Where-to-Look Index.
PreVIEW is your portal to our digital image collection. More than 13,000 images are available at present, with more being added all the time.
PreVIEW features images from many of our image collections, and depicts locations from all over the world, with a particular focus on Hamilton's local history. In fact, most of the images featured on the Local History & Archives website, which you are currently using, are freely available on PreVIEW.
The city of Hamilton's cybersecurity-related outage has affected some of HPL's services. Our online image database, PreVIEW, is unavailable, and we are not able to provide a timeline for its return. Some images, such as postcards, can still be found online on Flickr.