Central Library

Central Library or the South Shields Library is located in the heart of the town centre and is used by quite a few people in South Tyneside. The stock of books is quite good and the facilities are very good as well.
They also have a dedicated kids library where they have a range of children’s books and also have about 5 machines in there where the kids can surf the web and play games online.
They also have downstairs a library of DVD’s and music CD’s that members of the library can borrow using their library card.
The library also has a quiet room which is mainly utilised by students and other people who are revising for exams and need peace and quite to study.
They also have a nice range of reference books within this section.

South Shields central library is a large building situated around the corner from the main shoping street and the Denmark centre. Recently they have installed large computing areas, only accessible if you have a membership card. This includes internet access for a maximum of two hours, but this is a free service provided by the council so you cannot grumble!
There is a wide selection of educational, fiction, non fiction books available and if the book you want is unavailable, the staff are happy to reserve it or even order it in from other libraries in the borough.
They also have a media library, where they stock new dvd releases. There is a 1-​day service on newly released dvds and a 7-​day service on ordinary/​older releases. You have to pay for this service and must have a library membership card, but the prices are much lower than those of other rental shops and if you get a première dvd on a Saturday you can keep it over the weekend so you get an extra couple of days to watch it ;)
Great library, best one in the area. Often quite busy during exam season as there are a lot of students from South Tyneside College that use it, but in general there are ample facilities available for everyone.