University of West Florida professor Amy Mitchell-Cook carried in books by the box load.

Open Books volunteer Rebecca Carlson used a dolly to haul the boxes of books from Mitchell-Cook's vehicle to the Open Books bookstore and prison book project at 1040 N. Guillemard St.

In all, the two carried in an estimated 1,000 books to the small, independent bookstore, which also functions as a prison book outlet, sending books to incarcerated inmates across Florida.

The books were part of the library of longtime UWF sociology professor Mary Rogers, who died in 2009. The books were left to the university, and many of the books were given to the UWF library, faculty members and graduate students.

WATCH:Open Books Prison Book Project provides books for inmates

But UWF still had about 1,000 books in boxes that were taking up room, leading to Wednesday's book donation, which Open Books volunteer coordinator Johnny Ardis said is one of the "largest book donations" in the organization's 11-year history.

"It's absolutely a significant donation, in terms of quantity and quality,'' Ardis said. "We've probably only had two or three donations that large through all our years."

Many of the books are academic in nature and tackle numerous subjects related to sociology and philosophy. Among the titles are "The Grateful Dead and Philosophy,'' "A Rhetoric of Irony" and "The McDonaldization of Society."

"Some of them are older versions and some of them are duplicates,'' said Mitchell-Cook, chair of the UWF Department of History. "We have plenty of other books and didn't want them just sitting there."

She chose Open Books for the donation because, she said, "We know them, we like them and we want to support our community, so why not?"

Troy Moon can be reached at tmoon@pnj.com and 850-435-8541.