University Times

William C. Divens Jr., assistant director for Access Services at the Health Sciences Library System, was killed when the light plane he was piloting crashed at the Beaver County Airport on Sunday, April 12, 1998. He was 46 years old.

Also killed in the accident was his 8-year-old son, Daniel Divens, a second grader at the SS. Peter & Paul Catholic School in Beaver. Divens's wife, Christine, and their 11-year-old daughter, Megan, are recovering from injuries sustained in the same accident.

Divens joined the staff of the Falk Library of the Health Sciences in 1989. As a member of the senior management group, he had responsibility for circulation and interlibrary loans. He also supervised serials, acquisitions and technical processing. He was a leader in the development of new technology for interlibrary loan and circulation of library materials, and generously shared his expertise with colleagues throughout the library community.

Before coming to Falk Library, Divens worked for 14 years at Hillman Library in various positions, including head of Delivery Services and head of Circulation. He spent three months in 1985 as a consultant to Shanghai Jiao Tong University, People's Republic of China, on the use of microcomputers, circulation software and workflow systems design. Divens was a graduate of Central Catholic High School. He earned a B.A. in geography and geology, and an M.L.S., both from Pitt.

Divens's professional competence, caring personality and delightful sense of humor will be sorely missed, not only by his friends and colleagues on the Pittsburgh campus, but by participants on the many professional "listservs" in which he participated as "Rusty" Divens. His contributions to these e-mail correspondence groups combined wit and a gift for the deft phrase with serious and astute observations on professional issues.

In addition to his wife and daughter, Divens is survived by his parents, William Calvin Divens Sr. and Janet M. Brown Divens. His mother worked at the University for many years, retiring in the early 1980s.

Daniel Divens is also survived by his maternal grandmother, Mildred Crytzer.

A trust fund for Divens's daughter, Megan Divens, has been established. Contributions should be sent to the attention of Kim Crytzer, Financial Sales Officer, First Western Bank, 1007 Beaver Grade Road, Moon Township, PA 15108.

–Barbara A. Epstein

Editor's note: Barbara Epstein is associate director of the Health Sciences Library System.