The Library of Congress is sending thousands of books on Russian history and culture—saved from the incinerator earlier this year—to Texas A&M University/College Station and Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. The two schools were chosen because of their existing collections of Russian academia, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported November 14.
LC rescued some 50,000 Russian-language books that had been in the inventory of a warehouse-based bookstore in Rockville, Maryland; when the store fell behind in its rent, the county sheriff’s office ordered the books be pulped or sent to the county incinerator.
Librarian of Congress James H. Billington, a Russian scholar, said the collection included “a large number of encyclopedias and dictionaries in obscure languages, some modern Islamic literature, works on Russian science, and more post-Soviet material than I had expected.”
The first shipment of 10,000 books to Miami University was due to arrive by November 15. Dean of Libraries Judith Sessions said, “We’re very excited to get what they are, a Christmas present.”
Posted November 18, 2002.