Parties and libraries are two things not often thought of together, but on Saturday in Lawrence, they will be.

After operating out of a cramped temporary location for the past year and a half, the Lawrence Public Library is reopening the doors to its Vermont Street locale after an $18 million facelift and 20,000-square-foot expansion.

There will be new spaces to explore, artwork to admire, music to hear, food to eat and even a movie to watch. Oh, and all the books and other collection items will be up on the shelves waiting to be plucked, too.

“I can’t wait to get the public in here; it’s lovely,” library Director Brad Allen said. “I think people are going to be well served.”

The day begins with a ribbon-cutting ceremony outside the library’s front doors. Mayor Mike Amyx and Allen are expected to give speeches. Following that, 200 people lined up from the temporary New Hampshire Street location to the permanent location, 707 Vermont St., will pass the final book to its permanent home.

The doors open at 10:45 a.m., and from there, visitors can check out the new digs and enjoy festivities on a closed portion of Vermont Street. Plans include live music, luau dancing, appearances from Kansas University athletes, food and an evening showing of “Ghostbusters.”

In the library, there are plenty of new nooks and crannies to explore, including meeting rooms, a teen center and an expanded children’s area that includes “book cubbies” — little forts where kids and parents can curl up with a book and a pillow.

New technologies are abundant — computers, big screen TVs and self-checkout machines. Visitors can also gaze through a window and watch a conveyer belt sort the library’s returned items into various bins.

Not everything will be up and running Saturday, however. The library’s front lawn and patio may not be completed until late August, Allen said.

A coffee bar inside the main entrance will be open Saturday, but it will be working out of a temporary stand for about a month.

In the lower level of the library, a recording studio is also in the works. Right now, it’s missing all of its equipment. Allen said it will be installed in “a short amount of time.”

The transition back to the old location went well, Allen said. This week work crews were still laying a few carpets and touching up the lobby. A few things here and there were still encased in packaging wrap and some decorations still needed placing. Allen also said the staff will need to be retrained for a building that is now bigger and housing better technology.

But on Saturday, just about all of it will come together.

“(The building is) perfect, so you don’t want it to get that first scratch,” Allen said, before noting he’s now using coasters to avoid staining his new desk. “But surely anything that’s well loved has a few scratches on it.”