 He also served as Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences from 1985 to 1989, Vice-Principal from 1989 to 1993, and Senior Vice-Principal from 2000 to 2007.Outside of academia, he was chairman of the Board of Trustees of the National Library of Scotland from 2000 to 2012.Anderson was elected a Fellow of the British Academy (the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and social sciences) in 1989, and served on its council from 1995 to 1998.