Scottish library users are being encouraged to check out some sunshine from their local libraries with the arrival of kits designed to tackle the effects of seasonal affective disorder.
With days rapidly getting shorter after the end of British Summer Time on Sunday 25th October, local library-goers can borrow one of hundreds of Wintering Well Boxes now available for loan from British public library services after two years of successful trials in Scotland.
Edinburgh Library Service is making Wintering Well Boxes available to users for the first time in three community libraries in Wester Hailes, Morningside and Muirhouse. Librarygoers across East Renfrewshire will also benefit from access to Wintering Well Boxes for the first time after the local authority joined this year’s lending scheme.
Meanwhile, in Glasgow, the number of Wintering Well Boxes available to users citywide has been boosted to 185, reflecting the popularity of an initial scheme launch in 2025. Libraries in East Dunbartonshire and Orkney which have previously been part of the loan scheme will continue to offer Wintering Well Boxes to service users this year.
The boxes were developed with ESRC funding by researchers from the Universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh in consultation with people who experience symptoms of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) during the shorter days of winter.
They include a therapeutic light lamp which can help replace the beneficial effects of outdoor sunlight during shorter winter days, and a guidebook with tips on simple indoor and outdoor activities that can help support a healthy new winter routine. The boxes also offer access to a free online course helping users tackle the effects of SAD.
The boxes aim to help alleviate the mental and physical problems caused by SAD. More than a million people in the UK are estimated to live with SAD during the winter months as a result of reduced access to natural light, according to figures from the Royal College of Psychiatry.
A total of 16 public library services across England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland will share 600 of the boxes this year. This expansion comes after the first loan scheme was introduced in public libraries in East Dunbartonshire in 2024. Since then, local people have checked out the Wintering Well Boxes more than 1000 times.
Professor Hester Parr of the University of Glasgow’s School of Geographical & Earth Sciences, has led the Wintering Well project since its inception. She said: “Seasonal affective disorder can be debilitating for many people, who dread the annual effects of the shorter days and struggle to stay physically and mentally healthy through winter.
The principles of connection, kindness, creativity and wellbeing inspired library teams to think differently about how we could support people experiencing loneliness, isolation and the challenges that winter can bring
Professor Hester Parr continued, “When we began work on the Living with SAD research project which led to the development of the Wintering Well Box, we wanted to explore whether SAD was an annual inevitability or whether change was possible.
“With two years of real-world use and feedback from users now available, we can see that people can be helped to make changes that improve their winter wellbeing through the active, creative measures we’ve developed with input from people who live with SAD. Wintering Well Boxes have helped hundreds of people improve their mood, make healthy changes to their routines, and develop a brighter outlook on winter by adopting distinctive coping strategies. We’re excited to reach many more this time around.”
The project is co-led by the University of Edinburgh’s Professor Hayden Lorimer. He said: “We’re thrilled that library services in all four nations have given their support to the Wintering Well project, which is a direct result of the impact we’ve been able to make with the help of Scottish public libraries over the last couple of years.
“This winter may be more challenging for many as we face additional uncertainty about how the country will be affected by what is forecast to be the strongest El Niño for a thousand years. Our Wintering Well boxes aim to help people deal with those negative emotions through creative exercises, as well as offering free access to an online course to help them develop more healthy habits and improve their mental wellbeing.”
Alan Wright, Chair of the East Dunbartonshire Leisure and Culture Trust (EDLCT) Board, said: “We are proud to have been involved in this initiative from the very beginning. When it was first introduced in our libraries, Wintering Well gave us a simple but powerful framework for supporting our communities through the darker months of the year. What began as activities contained within the box quickly became something much bigger.
“The principles of connection, kindness, creativity and wellbeing inspired library teams to think differently about how we could support people experiencing loneliness, isolation and the challenges that winter can bring. Rather than being viewed as a standalone programme, Wintering Well is now woven into the way we plan our services and engage with our communities. It is an excellent addition to the year-round Health Information Hubs that are stationed in our libraries, offering people information on a range of health issues.”
As well as being able to borrow light boxes from all libraries, East Dunbartonshire residents can take part in a Wintering Well programme of events and activities.
This includes author talks, quiz nights, crafts for adults and children and even a ‘Murder Mystery Evening’ at Milngavie Library on Thursday 5 November. Details are on the Trust website where there are booking links for Eventbrite.
Isobel Hunter MBE, Chief Executive of Libraries Connected, said: “Public libraries support wellbeing in countless ways, and the Wintering Well Box loan scheme is a brilliant example of how they help people take positive steps for their mental and physical health. For many people, the shorter days and darker months of winter can have a real impact on wellbeing. As trusted, welcoming spaces at the heart of communities, libraries are uniquely placed to help. We're proud to see this innovative project expanding across the UK and supporting more people to develop healthy winter routines.”
