A £400,000 overspend is putting the future of Waltham Forest's libraries in danger, campaigners claim.

Trade union Unison says the council is recruiting increasing numbers of unqualified volunteers while cutting full-time library staff to save money.

There are fears the alleged overspend in the last financial year could lead to further library closures.

Nancy Taafe, Unison Waltham Forest steward, said: "Eighty two libraries have closed nationally since 1997.We want to put in place an option that allows us to defend our libraries."

She added: "We see the option of volunteers in libraries as simply starting the process of closure by other means."

Library users and staff also criticised the lack of books and the state of libraries at a public meeting at the town hall yesterday (Wednesday) evening.

Unison plan to hold a series of meetings to campaign for an improvement in the service and to protect jobs.

Janet Wright, local author and library campaigner, said: "The closure and dumbing down of libraries is a crime against democracy. Politicians and their servants won't be remembered for cutting costs by some trivial amount, but they will be remembered for destroying one of the great achievements of the 19th and 20th centuries."

She added: "Now Unison is telling politicians to stop attacking our library services. Let's remind politicians at every level that we want to keep our public libraries."

A motion was passed a motion of no confidence in the way the council is running libraries.

It called for the authority to re-open St James Street Library, which was closed by the council in 2007 to save £70,000.

The closure provoked outrage among many local residents, who claim they were not consulted.

The motion also called for an increase in the number of books, more qualified staff and an end to the practice of using volunteers as cover.

There were also concerns raised about the bullying of staff who oppose service cuts.

The council was criticised for destroying 230,000 books during the overhaul of libraries in 2007.

Sheena Dunbar, director of Age Concern Waltham Forest, said: "At no time were we advised by the council that any volunteers would be used to replace staff. The volunteers requested have been recruited and at present we are not actively recruiting volunteers for the housebound service."

A council spokeswoman said: "We are committed to providing our residents with a high quality library service that offers the items and event that they want.

"Libraries have an agreed number of staff, and in the last year the council has recruited 15 permanent members of library staff to continue to provide a good level of service.

"In line with the council's volunteering policy, we do encourage volunteers to help support the library service but they certainly do not replace members of staff.

"The council wants to increase the number of people who make full use of the borough's libraries.

"Both visitor numbers and borrowing have increased in the past year, and we hope that many more people will explore all their local library has to offer."