I wholeheartedly agree that a central library is more important than simply putting e-readers or tablets into people’s hands. After all, where will they get the content to read on their new Kindles?

With Amazon’s new multiyear licensing deals for libraries, more people can check out e-books, and libraries can save money and inventory over time. But e-books are no substitute for reading a book to a preschooler or browsing the shelves near your favorite author. And libraries are great places for meetings, seminars, voting, and many other public events.

Our family owns a Kindle and a couple of smartphones. We check out e-books now and then, but we get the most service from our local library’s selection of movies and printed books. Thanks for standing up for public libraries.

Glenn A. Pettit

North Liberty