About the community group/organisation/individual 

Invercargill City Libraries and Archives is the city’s main public library, where people can loan books, DVDs and magazines, as well as ebooks, newspapers and audiobooks. 

Library staff also run a variety of events and clubs for preschoolers, children, teenagers and adults, from after school clubs, Wriggle and Rhyme, holiday programmes and story time to crafts, social groups and book clubs. 

The facility also provides a collection of records for research and archival purposes. 

 What the grant went towards 

The ILT Foundation provided a grant of $2500 to the Invercargill City Libraries and Archives towards purchasing educational Imagination playground blocks, sourced from the United States for the children’s area in the newly refurbished library. 

 What the grant means to the community group/organisation 

“The playground blocks encourage unstructured play, and encourage the children to play together and socialise. That is what appealed to us,” Invercargill City Libraries and Archives customer experience manager Cynthia Smith said. 

“Children need to use their imagination.” 

The blocks would encourage families to play together and contribute to family well-being, she said. 

 “We really wanted to focus on the child…which is going to help everybody.”