Marion Clayton Link (1907-1995), author and explorer, bequeathed $175,000 in her will to Florida Tech's Evans Library. The gift, to be matched through the challenge grant made by the F.W. Olin Foundation of New York City, has established the Marion Clayton Link Library Information NetworK (LINK) endowment at the university. The LINK is the library's worldwide web-based electronic information access system. Income from the endowment will maintain the LINK system and information access services for faculty, staff and students.

Mrs. Link and her husband, Edwin A. Link, were long-time supporters of the university and former residents of Ft. Pierce, Fla. Marion previously made major contributions to the library, including monetary gifts and her personal collections.

Mr. Link was the inventor of the first successful flight simulator and designer of the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution's Johnson-Sea-Link class submersibles. Florida Tech awarded him an honorary doctorate in 1970 and named the Link Building in his honor. Through Marion Link's books, Sea Diver and Windows in the Sea, the author described the couple's adventures sailing throughout the world on their research vessel Sea Diver.

The recent gift was presented to Evans Library by Marilyn C. Link, the author's sister-in-law and personal representative. Marilyn is currently a trustee of Florida Tech and resides in Vero Beach, Fla.

The F.W. Olin Foundation match was part of a $50 million grant from the foundation, which has funded construction of an engineering complex and a life sciences facility.

Evans Library is at the heart of the information sharing on campus through the LINK. Among the worldwide information resources the LINK delivers are online databases, electronic journals and books, reference resources, and Internet sites organized by discipline.