Robert Donaldson devoted 27 years of his professional life to the National Library, expanding its national role DR Robert Donaldson, who has died at the age of 94, was profoundly conscientious in his dedication to the National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh, and to its public role and the readers it served. It was common to see him leaving the library in the evenings, carrying not one but two briefcases with papers for scrutiny at home. He was highly respected within the library and among the wider community of research librarians for his deep knowledge of rare book librarianship and scholarship, and for his intellectual integrity, unfailing courtesy and professional commitment.