He graduated from Moscow State University with Ph.D. in Physics and Mathematics.

Alexander is one of the founders of Russian MARS format, created to transfer information from paper to electronic format.

Alexander has held in various positions in RSL since 1998. From 1999 to 2001 he served as Chief of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation MICC, while working in the Russian State Library.

By order of the Prime Minister, Alexander I. Visly was appointed general director of the Russian State Library in October 2009.