On Jan. 26, Hamilton Public Library (HPL) announced that its Central Library branch will be closed on Sundays for the foreseeable future and will open one hour later (9 a.m. instead of 8 a.m.) every other day, in response to mental health and addiction incidents.
Then, in a Feb. 18 report to the HPL Board, CEO and Chief Librarian Paul Takala wrote that he is considering “a temporary closure of the Central Library to disrupt the pattern of drug use while making physical changes to the first floor.”
He added that an “alternative approach would be to temporarily require a library card to enter Central Library.”
The original changes to branch hours were meant to align with when extra support services are available, but Takala wrote that “security measures and collective efforts to limit drug consumption in the library have not adequately addressed the problem.”
“We now not only have to be concerned about drug use in the washrooms, but we also periodically encounter drug consumption in our public spaces. Drug paraphernalia and illegal substances are being found all too often. The drug activity combined with mental health outbursts is deterring a lot of people from coming to Central. This is especially true of families with children,” he continued.
During 2026 budget discussions, Hamilton City Council voted to give HPL a 5.25 per cent increase to their tax-supported budget, despite Mayor Andrea Horwath’s 4.25 per cent directive.
Part of the reason for the increase is so that they can deal with the various challenges they are facing.
HPL expects to spend $1.75 million on “community safety pressures” in 2026, with $920,000 for security.
Gagan Batra, Chair of the HPL Board, told Hamilton City Councillors at a January 27 budget meeting that they have also deployed “positive interventions like the community desk and partnership desk” at Central Library.
“We have de-escalation training for our staff. We have social workers and peer support workers who are at our library. We have also coupled the positive interventions with an increased enforcement of the rules to deter the illegal activity that we’re seeing,” Batra continued.
However, she noted that Councillors and the Hamilton residents should remember that “public libraries are a community service and not a social service.”
She called on “all levels of government to adequately fund mental health and addictions services.”
“Otherwise, we become the service of last resort for people with complex challenges.”
Support workers are contracted by HPL from the Canadian Mental Health Association, while social workers are public health outworkers.
Takala shared further details of what the library is facing at the February 18 HPL Board meeting.
He said that the Central Library is in a “very serious crisis.”
“We’re dealing with a situation where we have people coming in and distributing drugs in our space and having multiple overdoses in our library,” he told the Board.
“Our children’s department is not getting the kind of engagement it has in the past. So families with kids are not feeling comfortable coming into Central because of what they’re seeing.”
Sarah Gauthier, HPL Manager of Information Services, told Board Members that they have to close bathrooms at the library every day due to biohazards or drug paraphernalia.
She also said that there have been 771 security incidents in the last five weeks.
Nevertheless, HPL is “exploring ways” to open again on Sundays.
It also remains to be seen if a temporary closure of the branch will be put in place.
Based in Hamilton, he reaches hundreds of thousands of people monthly on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. He has been published in The Hamilton Spectator, Stoney Creek News, and Bay Observer. He has also been a segment host with Cable 14 Hamilton. In 2017, he received the Chancellor Full Tuition Scholarship from the University of Ottawa (BA, 2022). He has also received the Governor General’s Academic Medal. He formerly worked in a non-partisan role on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
