Board members

Educated at Ayr Academy, University of Glasgow and Balliol College, Oxford, Sir Drummond Bone began his career as a professor of English, noted particularly for his work on Byron.
His first appointment was at the University of Warwick but in 1980 he returned to Glasgow. After 20 years at the University of Glasgow, where latterly he was Senior Vice-Principal, he became Principal at Royal Holloway University of London, Vice-Chancellor at Liverpool and Master of Balliol College from which he retired in 2018.
Sir Drummond Bone was President of Universities UK and Chair of the UK Libraries Research Reserve Project. He was Chair of the Liverpool Capital of Culture Company, Vice-Chair of the Northern Way and Chair of its Science and Innovation Committee, sat on the CBI's Technology and Innovation Committee, and has been a consultant to many organisations involved in international Higher Education. He chaired the Arts and Humanities Research Council, retiring in 2021.
He is currently Chair of the Wordsworth Trust. He has MA degrees from Glasgow and Oxford Universities, a D.Univ from Glasgow and a D.Ed from Edinburgh, as well as a number of honorary degrees in literature. He is an Honorary Fellow of Balliol College.

Simon has been a member of the National Library of Scotland Board since 2014 and has chaired the Audit Committee during that period. He is also a Trustee of the National Library of Scotland Foundation. In addition, he is a Trustee of Community Integrated Care, one of the largest social care charities in the UK, and of Pittenweem Arts Festival, a community based arts festival in Scotland. He completed a PhD at Edinburgh University in 2020. Simon recently retired after a 35-year career in financial services, most of which was with Clydesdale Bank.

Noreen is Head of Metadata at the BBC, responsible for promoting and developing metadata standards that enable audiences to access BBC broadcast services.

Elizabeth began her career as a librarian in the Scottish Office Library where she worked for 10 years. She went on to hold several civil service posts, where she was responsible for developing and implementing policy in areas including finance, the voluntary sector and justice. As a Non-Executive Director on Boards including the Scottish Social Services Council, the Risk Management Authority and the State Hospital, she developed organisation strategies and managed performance and resources. Previously Deputy Chair of SACRO, she is currently a Board member with Corra, the Scottish Grant Making Trust. She was awarded a CBE in 2006.

Ruth was admitted as a member of the Faculty of Advocates in 1993 and appointed Queen's Counsel in 2008. She has a wide-ranging public law practice and a wealth of experience in planning and environmental law. She was a Curator of the Advocates Library for four years.

Helen retired from the post of University Librarian at the University of Glasgow in 2015 and has many years of senior level experience of delivering change within libraries and archives, together with experience of leadership in collaborative organisations within this sector.

Dianne is an experienced interim manager with strong strategic, programme and financial skills gained in programme leadership roles across the public, private and charity sectors.

Alan is the Director of Development at the Glasgow School of Art, where since 2010 he has been responsible for securing support for the capital and revenue priorities of the school. Previously, he held similar roles at the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, Action for Children Scotland and at Glasgow Life, where he led the award-winning Kelvingrove refurbishment campaign. His early career was in retail and economic development. Alan is a Board member of the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce and Chair of the Trustees of the Glasgow Art Club. He is also a Trustee of the Glasgow Science Centre and a Governor of the High School of Glasgow.

Lesley is a communications director with experience in a number of major organisations. Currently with Royal London group, from 2016 to 2021 she was Director of Communications at The Co-operative Bank where she re-established the bank's ethical and corporate responsibility agenda. From 2013-2016 she led communications on behalf of the City of Edinburgh Council, driving media campaigns to improve public engagement and promoting cultural venues, museums and galleries. Previously, she held leadership roles at AEGON UK and the Association of British Insurers.

Adrienne is Pro Vice Chancellor for the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at Queen's University Belfast, and Visiting Professor at the University of Glasgow.

Melissa is Professor of Digital Cultural Heritage and Director of Digital Scholarship at the University of Edinburgh's College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences. Her work focuses on using computational techniques to enable research in the humanities that would otherwise be impossible.

Robert has taught in secondary, further and higher education in Scotland, England, Egypt and China. He previously worked in local authority libraries and has also managed and developed libraries in educational institutions. He has 25 years' experience in management in further education, including as Principal of one of Scotland's largest colleges. Robert also has been a member of Boards of several public and third-sector bodies and is currently Chair of the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework Partnership Board.