VOLUNTEERS will be recruited next month to replace trained librarians in Southampton as unions ballot for strike action.

The city council has revealed to staff the detail of its plans to replace six paid librarians with volunteers this year and another six next year to save cash.

Members of the Unison union, which make up 80 per cent of the library workforce, are being balloted on a walkout and a boycott of new volunteers.

Unison branch secretary Mike Tucker said: “We believe that the use of volunteers will eventually run down the library service so much that in future libraries will be little more than charity book shops.”