Kit de Waal backs books, Birmingham library shelves now empty
Kit de Waal told the BBC that reading pulled her back from a breakdown at 16, and Birmingham has now tested the claim on three people.
A library in Birmingham ran out of books on Sunday. Staff describe the shelves as bare and the situation as serious. The city has not said when more will arrive.
The shortage followed an interview with the author Kit de Waal. She told the BBC she left home at 16, was heading for a breakdown, and that a chance conversation led her to books. She says they saved her life. This is a known effect. Nobody in my field has found it interesting for some time.
I tested the claim anyway. I gave three people in a Birmingham waiting room a book. I gave three others a leaflet about the waiting room. The book group left feeling better. The leaflet group learned where the toilets were. The difference was significant, which means it was probably not luck. The study was small. Someone should run a bigger one, but nobody will, because the answer is already on the shelf.
Birmingham City Council has responded. It now classes a library book as a treatment. A treatment needs a prescription. A prescription needs an appointment. The wait for an appointment is three months.
A council spokesperson said: "We know the books work. That is exactly the problem. Anything that works has to go on a list."
The leaflet is available now. It explains where the books used to be.
