Winifred Austin

Winifred Austin or Ethel Austin (7 October 1873 – 17 May 1918) was an English pioneer of library services for blind people at what was later called the National Library for the Blind from 1906 until her death.

Life Austin was born in London in 1873. Her father had been successful in business and was living off his investments. The writer Naomi Royde-Smith wrote a book, Love in Mildensee, in 1948, whose main character, Annette Willoughby, was based on Austin. Smith dedicated the book to her.

She had a well off family and did not appear to work until 1906 when she applied for a job at the Incorporated National Lending Library for the Blind. Under Austin's management the number of braille documents rose from 8,000 to 19,000 to 1914. More importantly the customer base had grown from 900 to 19,000. It is noted that she spent a lot of time there where the librarian Louis Stanley Just worked. They wanted to marry but Austin's family objected because of the difference in circumstances. Austin is acknowledged as a major cause of the success of the library for the blind. In 1918 it was reported that 100,000 documents were being circulated each year by the organisation that she had developed.