But these two mainstays will be difficult to replace. Hugger is a Cupertino native who has worked through all the incarnations of her hometown's library over 33 years. And Wang came to the Cupertino library and instituted story times and an extensive collection in her native Mandarin.

Hugger, 61, the granddaughter of Anna Gagliasso Regnart, grew up in Cupertino and attended a patchwork of local schools. "Every time they built a new building, I just gravitated to it," she says. Hugger was a member of Cupertino High School's first graduating class in 1961.

The same was true when she began working for the library system in 1968, coming over to Cupertino in time for her hometown's first library. "She's the only staff member who's worked here continuously since the original building was opened on Torre in 1971," says Mary-Ann Wallace, Cupertino's community librarian. Hugger has always worked at the library circulation desk.

"Being able to live and work in the community that I grew up in is such a blessing. I see people I've known all my life, and they're still friends," Hugger says.

Hugger's decision to work for the library was a natural one. Her grandmother loved to tell stories, and her mother was a teacher who instilled a love of reading in Hugger and her two sisters. "I remember walking up the steps of the bookmobile and seeing all the stacks of books," she says. "It was just, 'Wow.'"

Even from that young age, Hugger enjoyed history--she writes the "Roots" column for the Cupertino Scene and will continue after her retirement. She will also help with vacation Bible school at her church. Hugger has two daughters and six grandchildren.

Bonnie Wang also hopes to spend more time with her family after retirement. Her two children are scattered across the United States--a daughter in Boston, and a son in Chicago. A bit of travel is involved, but that's nothing new.

Wang, 64, was born in China and raised in Taiwan. After graduating from college, she came to the United States to earn her master's degree in library science at the University of Pittsburgh. "Before I came to this country, I was majoring in English literature," she says. "And a lot of my friends chose library school."

While in graduate school, she met her future husband, and the two moved to Alliance, Ohio. Wang began working in the Columbus public libraries and encountered a 16-year-old Chinese boy who asked her to teach him her native language.

"Speaking and reading are different things," she says. "His parents had never taught him how to read Chinese, but people expected him to know and he would feel embarrassed."

To change this, Wang began hosting story times in Mandarin. Her husband's job with General Electric then brought the family to San Jose, and Wang began a similar series with the Cupertino library in 1988.

Many of the programs she scheduled as Cupertino's children's librarian incorporated this bilingual approach. During Chinese New Year and the Moon Festival, Wang would hold a series of Mandarin storytelling hours. She would incorporate projects, such as covering toilet paper rolls with construction paper to emulate firecrackers. This storytelling series has spread to several other library sites.

"What she'll be especially remembered for are those creative and colorful Mandarin story times," Wallace says. "They were incredibly well received by the community." Wang also helped develop the collection of Chinese language materials throughout the county, from books to videos and DVDs.

The twosome was honored along with the other 12 retiring library employees at a party on July 12. Wallace says that replacing them is contingent upon the passage of the state budget, but even that will be difficult.

"It's like saying goodbye to two family members," she says. "It won't be the same dynamic here anymore, but we feel very privileged to have them work here as long as they did."