The Hospice Institute's Baldwin Family Collection

​The Baldwin Family Collection, a part of our End-of-Life Library, is a gift of the children of Robert F. Baldwin, Sr., Raymond F. Baldwin, and Richard H. Baldwin given by their children in their memory. It is currently housed as a resource at our Ashtabula office. The family donated 70 new books (10 books to each of seven libraries in Ashtabula County) last February to expand community access to end-of-life support resources. Special commemorative bookplates were applied to the gift books to recognize the generosity of the family.

​The Baldwin Family Collection is unusual in that it is a circulating collection. Patrons of Ashtabula Public Libraries and those who wish to access the books through the CLEVNET Library Cooperation can do so with an interlibrary loan. Many of the books in the collection deal with bereavement and working through grief. There are also a good selection of children's books. Our librarian worked closely with the Ashtabula Library staff to ensure we were not duplicating volumes already in their collection. Creating a circulating collection is a significant step in expanding our libraries resources to a larger audience in need of special information.