October 31, 2023, at the M.I. Rudomino All-Russia Library for Foreign Literature there took place meeting with the president of Russian Library Association and the director of the State Public Historical Library Mikhail D. Afanasiev. Candidate of Pedagogy, all his life he devoted to library work. School library, the library organized in his yard by teenagers, the charm of the printed-book ordor, the wizardry of numbers and letters in cataloguing and indices, - all that was just the beginning of the future serious life-long occupation.  What influenced his career choice? Which were meaningful dates and people? Does the president of Russian Library Association have a favourite library of his? All those and many other questions were asked by Olga N. Miaeots, a Scandinavian philologist, translator and book critic, specialist of the Centre of Kid Book and Kid Programmes of the M.I. Rudomino All-Russia Library for Foreign Literature. Another aspects touched upon were the urgent matters of library life and prospects as seen by Mr. Afanasiev, a man with the name and authority in library world.