September’s installment of 7 Questions With…AAAL Members features Tatiana Usova, Head of Bibliothèque Saint-Jean, University of Alberta.

1. If you could learn to do anything, what would it be?
Play piano and arrange music like Tommy Banks

2. If you could be any fictional character, who would you choose?
Phileas Fogg from “Around the World in Eighty Days” by Jules Verne because I love travel and adventure

3. What is your best piece of career advice?
There are at least three:
– Develop active listening skills, it is essential for workplace success;
– Take time to reflect on your life, career and goals you want to achieve;
– Be passionate about what you do and your future.

4. What is your best piece of life advice?
Success and happiness are greatly affected by our attitude towards life. Our state of mind determines the outcome of our endeavors. Staying positive is a choice. “A happy person is not a person in a certain set of circumstances, but rather a person with a certain set of attitudes.”– Hugh Downs

5. What are some of your favourite podcasts?
Podcasts by Wayne Dyer and Brian Tracy

6. What is your proudest work-related accomplishment?
I am multilingual, and I am proud that I have worked in five different countries using three different languages. At present, I manage a French library, and it is my third language. I praise myself for having been able to adapt, to overcome cultural barriers and succeed in all places where I worked

7. What is your proudest non-work related accomplishment?
I was a leading actress in 2016 Fringe play that got 4 stars from Vue Weekly and was warmly recieved by the audience.