Anne Campbell, MP, with Cambridge University Librarian Peter Fox at the opening of the exhibition centre, at which Genizah items are currently featured on-line

Throughout its long history, Cambridge University Library has been accessible only to members of the University, to visiting scholars and to their guests. Now, with the opening of its new exhibition centre, members of the public may, without charge, see some of its treasures between 9am and 6pm each weekday, and between 9am and 12.30pm on Saturdays.

The formal opening was carried out by the MP for Cambridge, Anne Campbell, on 24 July, 1998, and a special exhibition on view until 24 October was mounted of a selection of the Library's treasures.

One of these is a Hebrew manuscript (Dd.10.68) from 15th-century Italy, containing essays on various medical topics, with colourful miniatures representing doctors and patients engaged on various activities.

In addition, a computer display of 122 Genizah images was mounted on a PC and is permitting visitors to access both the fragments themselves and information about their origins and content.

The exhibits will change a few times each year, and other treasures at the Library will have their turn to be displayed. Items from the Librarys rich collection of Orientalia will undoubtedly be represented in some of these forthcoming exhi bitions.

To mark the opening of the new exhibition centre , a volume about the Librarys collections, edited by the University Librarian, Peter Fox, was published by Cambridge University Press, under the title, Cambridge University Lib rary: The Great Collections (ISBN 0521 626366 hb; 0521 626471 pb).

This handsomely illustrated volume contains essays by scholars who have specialized in such subjects as the Library's history, Codex Bezae, Darwin papers, Royal Commonwealth Society archive, Stefan Heim papers and the University archives. O ne of the essays, by Stefan Reif, is entitled "The Genizah Fragments: A Unique Archive?"