At its Dec. 15 meeting, the city council accepted the offer of Cupertino residents Dick and Carolyn Randall's two bronze sculptures for the library and civic center plaza.

One sculpture is of two children dancing or playing with three animals. The other one is a child reading a book with an animal nearby.

"We are glad that the city is expanding the library. When my daughter was at Monta Vista, she used the library all the time," said Dick Randall, who has lived in Cupertino for 22 years.

The Randalls have commissioned artist Georgia Gerber to create the sculptures. Gerber, who operates her own studio with three women artists in Washington, is widely recognized for creating public works that encourage viewer interaction. She primarily works with life-size animal and human figures, often incorporating architectural or abstract elements into the design. She has permanent installations in more than 35 locations throughout the United States and Japan.

Gerber will start working on the sculptures in January of 2004. The installation is planned for October of 2004, in time for the library's grand opening. The Randalls have offered to pay up to $65,000 for the design, fabrication, shipping and installation of the sculptures.

The art will be placed where it can easily be seen from the surrounding buildings and seating areas and at a safe distance from the traffic so children can safely interact with the sculptures. At this time, the dancing children sculpture is planned for the plaza, while the reading child sculpture will be placed near the library's main doors or in the interior courtyard. The city's senior architect will work with the artist and landscape architects to select the final locations.

While the city council welcomes the generous donation, council members want to remind the residents that money is needed to furnish the library.

"We cannot stress more that we need money to buy shelves, chairs and tables for our library," said city Councilwoman Dolly Sandoval.

The library foundation has been trying to raise $1.5 million to furnish the new library, but it has raised only $150,000 so far.