Hamilton Public Library (Ontario)

This article is about the library in Hamilton, Ontario. For other libraries of this name, see Hamilton Library.

Hamilton Public Library

Type	public library system in Hamilton, Ontario
Collection
Items collected	business directories, phone books, maps, government publications, books, periodicals, genealogy, local history,
Website	Hamilton Public Library website

The Hamilton Public Library (HPL) is the public library system of Hamilton, Ontario.

Services

HPL services include the Local History and Archives department (formerly called Special Collections), which houses an extensive collection of local history resources, and the Learning Centre, which provides access to language materials for new Canadians. In recent years, the HPL’s collection of online resources has expanded rapidly, and now features more than 30 databases covering a great variety of topic areas.

• Information and reference services
• Access to full text databases
• Community information
• Internet access
• Reader's advisory services
• Programs for children, youth and adults
• Delivery to homebound individuals
• Interlibrary loan
• Free downloadable audiobooks

History

Public libraries have operated in Hamilton since the 1830s, although the first branches were privately operated and tended to be ephemeral in nature.

Hamilton and Gore Mechanics' Institute was one of a series of Mechanic's Institutes that were set up around the world after becoming popular in Britain. The Mechanic's Institutes libraries eventually became public libraries when the establishment of free libraries occurred.

Hamilton city council voted to publicly fund the construction and operation of a library in 1889. This building opened in February 1890. Hamilton was the first city in Canada to erect a new building for the express purpose of housing a library. A HPL branch opened on Hamilton’s Barton Street in 1908. Andrew Carnegie funded a new main library, which opened in 1913. This was in turn replaced by a new, six-storey central library in 1980. Today, only two-thirds of the building houses public collections. Once restricted to the city of Hamilton, the HPL service area was expanded when the outlying townships were amalgamated into the City in 2001. The now-amalgamated City of Dundas had had its own library in operation since 1822. The outlying rural towns had previously been served by the Wentworth Libraries system. In 2001, the Wentworth and Dundas libraries amalgamated with the HPL into a single system with 23 branches, 34 bookmobile stops, a virtual online branch and a Visiting Library Service for the homebound.

List of branches

Branch Name	Address	Location within City
Ancaster	300 Wilson St. E.	Ancaster
Barton	571 Barton St. E.	East
Binbrook	2641 Highway 56	Binbrook
Carlisle	1496 Center Rd	Carlisle
Central Library	55 York Blvd.	Downtown
Concession	565 Concession St.	Central Mountain
Dundas	18 Ogilvie St.	Dundas
Freelton	1803 Brock Rd.	Freelton
Greensville	59 Kirby Ave.	Dundas
Kenilworth	103 Kenilworth Ave. N.	East
Locke	285 Locke St. S.	Downtown
Lynden	110 Lynden Rd.	Lynden
Millgrove	857 Millgrove Sdrd.	Millgrove
Mount Hope	3027 Homestead Drive	Mount Hope
Picton (Closed as of June 2009)	502 James St N.	Downtown
Red Hill	695 Queenston Rd.	East
Rockton (Closed as of December 2012)	795 Old Highway 8	Rockton
Saltfleet	131 Grays Rd.	Stoney Creek
Sherwood	467 Upper Ottawa St.	East Mountain
Stoney Creek	777 Highway 8	Stoney Creek
Terryberry	100 Mohawk Rd. W.	West Mountain
Turner Park	352 Rymal Road East	South Mountain
Valley Park	970 Paramount Dr.	East Mountain
Waterdown	25 Mill St N.	Waterdown
Westdale	955 King St W.	West

See also

• List of Carnegie libraries in Canada

External links

• Hamilton Public Library website