The Mechanic Falls Public Library is set to reopen Saturday.

We might call it a grand opening in that it is an important and delightful premiere.

Last month, vandals burglarized the library, tossing books, upending furniture and generally wrecking the place and stealing valuables. The destruction was not complete, but it was contemptuous.

Public libraries are society’s equalizers. No matter who we are, where we live, how much we earn or how well we read, libraries offer every one of us free and unfettered access to information. Libraries are places that offer journeys of imagination, volumes of facts, entertainment and enlightenment. Through libraries, we peek at the universe.

When the Mechanic Falls library and its collection were damaged, libraries from across the region threw open their doors to the facility’s patrons. Schoolchildren raised money to buy new equipment and the library’s board was overwhelmed with offers to help. That’s because we know and understand how important our libraries are to our communities, to our democracy.

Public libraries thrive on patronage. We know existing patrons of the Mechanic Falls library will eagerly return to borrow from its collection. We encourage residents who haven’t visited the library, who have never applied for a library card or never taken out a book to make a point to go to the library on Saturday in a show of support for an equal society. The doors open at 9 a.m.