In 1998 Anderson won a Smithsonian Research Fellowship in Museum Studies that involved a twelve-month residential placement.
[4] She was also active in the Canberra arts community during this period, and in 1995 selected the works that were displayed in the ACT Craft Council's annual exhibition.
The Canberra Times reported that AWM staff had expected that she would be appointed the new director, but former Defence minister Brendan Nelson was the successful applicant.
[7] While working as the acting Director, Anderson completed the book Australian War Memorial: Treasures from a Century of Collecting which was published in October 2012.
[8] As part of a positive review, The Sydney Morning Herald noted that "the tome could only have been produced by somebody with the intimate knowledge of the memorial, its history and the collection Anderson has acquired over the past two decades".