Yearning to unearth your roots?

Now you can trace your heritage using newly acquired books and online genealogy databases at Nova Southeastern University.

The electronic databases are free to the public in Broward County via computers at the Alvin Sherman Library, Research and Information Technology Center. The library also features a new collection of 4,000 books, manuscripts and other material on ancestry from the Genealogical Society of Broward County.

The new online database and research materials were unveiled Saturday at a Genealogy Fair, attended by dozens of curious genealogists who sought the help of experts from the African-American Genealogy Society of Broward County, Association of Gravestone Studies and Daughters of the American Revolution, among others.

"Everybody needs a sense of self, and your family is the start of that," said Nora Quinlan, the library's reference director. "It helps people develop a pride in their family, and even learn about your family's medical conditions, cultural and educational history."

The databases allow users to punch in names of relatives, tracing their lineage as they go. The university's databases draw from U.S. Census information dating to 1790, manifests of ships that ferried immigrants to America in the 19th and 20th centuries, and draft lists going back to the Civil War. Also available are marriage, birth and death certificates from the 1600s.

Armed with that information, Michael Gati, 48, of Davie, discovered his grandfather emigrated from Naples, Italy, in 1910. He was a shoemaker. "It's good to know your history," said Gati, a semi-retired airline worker.

For Mary Hart, who sought details surrounding her Irish parents' immigration in 1927, the database was a convenient portal to her past. Her parents died when she was a toddler. "It's amazing to have this all online," said Hart, 70, a retired phone company worker who lives in Hollywood. "We would have had to go back to Ireland otherwise to do this research."

Jennifer Gollan can be reached at jgollan@sun-sentinel.com or 954-385-7920.

INFORMATIONAL BOX:

More on the library

Alvin Sherman Library, Research and Information Technology Center, 3100 Ray Ferrero Blvd., is free and open to the public.

For information, visit www. nova.edu/library/genealogyfair or call the library's genealogy and history librarian, Kim Garvey, at 954-262-4575.