Ethel Young was a librarian in the Health Department for 25 years until her retirement in 1964. She then joined the faculty of medicine at the University of Tasmania as an assistant librarian and helped establish the medical library. She worked there until 1985, when she transferred to the Menzies Centre for Population Health Research at the University where she was honorary librarian from its opening in January 1988 until her death. She was also, for 10 years Honorary Librarian at the Allport Library and the Museum of Fine Arts and between 1951 and 1974 she was a member of the committee of the Sunshine Home for Underprivileged Children. Cancer research has benefited from her bequest to the University of Tasmania