The Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies has announced the successor to its longtime curator Dr Piet van Boxel.

Dr Cesar Merchan Hamann will take over from Dr van Boxel in September as curator of the Bodleian Library's Hebrew and Judaica collections.

The library's holdings date back to the 17th century and include the complete canon of Hebrew and Aramaic literature as well as an unrivalled collection of Yiddish books.

Dr Hamann, who holds degrees from universities in Colombia and the UK, was the head librarian and a lecturer in Jewish history at Leo Baeck College. More recently, he served as the deputy librarian of the Oxford Centre's Leopold Muller Library.