He lectured in social anthropology for some years at
Aarhus University, Denmark. In 1979 and 1980 he was head of the Historic Buildings Branch of the Scottish Development Department, and from 1980 to 1987, was Director of the
National Heritage Memorial Fund, based in
London. After this, he spent four years as Director of Public Affairs for the
National Trust, before his appointment as
Chief Executive and Deputy
Chairman of the
British Library from 1991 until 2000. During this period, the British Library made the delayed and over-budget move into its new building at St Pancras. Lang also instituted a controversial policy of disposing of archives of historic foreign newspapers, which was halted by his successor
Lynne Brindley. Lang is a trustee of the
Heritage Lottery Fund, a member of the Cultural Commission. He has chaired the Heritage Lottery Fund committee for Scotland.
St Andrews Lang succeeded
Struther Arnott as principal and vice-chancellor of the
University of St Andrews in January 2001. At his inauguration that year, he stated a commitment to social inclusion. In 2003, analysis of admissions to UK universities from state schools against benchmarks set for each university, found St Andrews performed least well. The following year, Lang announced fifty scholarships for Scottish school pupils intended to tackle elitism by at improving diversity among the student body. While Lang was at St Andrews, the university rose from twentieth in the UK in 2001 to fifth in 2008, according to some league tables. Lang became a trustee of
National Museums Scotland in September 2014, with his second term of appointment being extended to March 2023.
Controversies During his first year at St Andrews, a member of the university's administrative staff sought compensation after making allegations that Lang had bullied, intimidated and
sexually harassed her. Lang denied the claims. Although an
employment tribunal hearing was scheduled, the university and former employee reached an
out of court settlement in May 2002. In retrospect, the out of court settlement was considered to have contributed to Lang's lack of popularity while Principal. At an unrelated employment tribunal in 2004, Lang drew on his background in social anthropology to compare an academic department at St Andrews to the
Ik tribe of
Uganda, who, he said, were noted for their "dishonesty, lying and cheating". (This view of the Ik, due to
Colin Turnbull, has been repeatedly criticized.) Lang was accused of
hypocrisy by the St Andrews student newspaper
The Saint for promoting the university's environmental policy by asking other members of the university not to use cars, while continuing to use his
Jaguar to make the 1.1 mile journey to his office. ==Awards and honours==