The Word, National Centre for the Written Word

A fantastic library for all ages. So much happening (not the stand" library). Lovely little events for the children. Would recommend this facility to anybody."

Lovely building, great open and light space. Shame about the cycling parking. There was no signage showing where it was, when we did find it, it was really good. Had a pirate exhibition in which was presented very well. Good cake.

Very friendly staff, willing to help, lots of resources for anything from family history to hikes around the UK, lots of places to sit down and also lots of computers. The cafe also has fairly priced, delicious food and drink. There is also a gift shop with some local branded merchandise, great for sanddancers alike. There are telescopes on the viewing platform above to view the ships entering and leaving, there is an elevator so it is very wheelchair accessible. There is also an interactive table that has lots of photos of South Shields, a few quizzes and facts about lots of different things like space, overall lots of fun to be had within the library and lots of knowledge for researching a wide range of topics.

Our 11 month old thinks the place is wonderful. He particularly likes the light feature.

Simply the best library around, great books friendly staff, chess tuesdays and saturdays, scrabble Wednesdays and writing group every other sunday.

Finally got to visit despite watching it being built and it's a beautiful building, very modern. Walking around I love how despite appearing open plan it has been designed with specific zones in mind. The area that really stood out was the library itself and browsing the stacks it was easy to forget you were in such a huge building, kudos to the staff to for keeping the display books relevant, it's obvious they are refreshed daily with current affairs in mind. I loved the Ridley Scott exhibition which was a nice surprise but it would have been nice to have seen a bit more on Tony Scott, another local lad with an equally incredible portfolio. Can't wait to see what the future holds for The word.

Fantastic space for books, work, and an excellent coffee shop to boot! I loved the old library in shields, but I'm now fully converted to this on. Good job.

Extremely good and scenic place to work , desktops are available to work on, you can get your laptops as well, you can read from a wide range of books everything available for free. You can print documents by paying 10pennies for black and white prints and 20 p for color. You can scan documents for 10 p as well

Very friendly and welcoming, my wife and I visited today for a quick bite to eat. Soup of the day, coffee, teacake and scones. Very enjoyable and good value. Would highly recommend The Word. Great library too!

the current exhibition is fantastic! video games seem a great idea but were not working. the layout is nice and you can spend hours there browsing an interesting selection of books and there are computers to work on. lovely way to pass a relaxing afternoon..