AUBURN – City and state dignitaries, library patrons and costumed characters will be on hand Saturday to officially open the renovated Auburn Public Library.

The official dedication and ribbon cutting is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. It will feature speeches by Gov. John Baldacci, U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe and Auburn City Councilor Kelly Matzen.

Two library patrons, June Spear and Hadley Wallace, will get the honors of cutting the ribbon.

“We held a drawing for library patrons to be the ones to do that,” said Kellie DeMers, library development director. “They won because they obviously visit the new library quite often.”

The library has a full slate of story times, LA Arts readers’ theater performances and games scheduled for the day. Costumed characters, including Lewie, the Lewiston Maineiacs mascot and Clifford the Big Red Dog will be on hand as well.

A guitar jam, open to any teenage guitar players in the area, is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m.

The library reopened in May in its refurbished 30,000-square-foot space. The renovated building includes all of the old library and a generous part of the land at the site of the former City Building.

Planning for the expansion began in 1998, with volunteers raising about half of the $7 million through donations and grants. The city took on about $3.5 million in debt to pay for the rest of the work.