Library of Congress Celebrates 218th Birthday

The Library of Congress is celebrating its 218th birthday this week. On April 24, 1800, President John Adams approved the appropriation of $5,000 for the purchase of — in his words — "such books as may be necessary for the use of Congress." Ksenia Turkova, of VOA's Russian Service, checked out the biggest library in the world and some of its tens of millions of items.