The Library of Congress has taken possession of some 50,000 Russian-language books in the inventory of an evicted warehouse-based bookstore in Rockville, Maryland. LC’s intervention ensures that the items are no longer bound for pulping or the county incinerator—an order given by the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office after bookstore owner Igor Kalageorgi fell $200,000 behind in his rent.
A front-page story in the March 9 Washington Post about the imminent demise of Victor Kamkin Bookstores led to Librarian of Congress James H. Billington visiting the shop the next day with several LC staffers. “These books have to be preserved,” declared Billington, who is a Russian scholar. “We’re pleased the nation’s library will have a hand in getting some of these materials.” University of Illinois/Urbana-Champaign Slavic collections librarian Larry Miller told the newspaper that the former Soviet government offered Kamkin deep discounts to “get as many Russian books into the U.S. as possible.”
Heightened interest in the 2-million-item collection by Billington and U.S. Rep. Constance A. Morella (R-Md.) persuaded the landlord to postpone the March 12 eviction for three weeks, according to the March 29 Post. Kalageorgi announced on the bookstore’s Web site that he expects to reopen another store in late April and is accepting phone orders in the meantime.
Posted April 8, 2002.