Reports that an Australian library is moving books by and about Lance Armstrong from non-fiction to fiction have proven false, much to the disappointment of those leaving comments on Amazon.com.
USA Today, the UK’s Daily Mail and more recently tech-news site Mashable have all reported that Manly Library, a public library in Sydney, recatalogued Armstrong books following the cyclist’s confession to Oprah Winfrey last week. In an exclusive interview with the talk show host, Armstrong admitted to doping, lying and bullying.
The story was reported after tweets of a sign from Manly Library went viral on Twitter. The sign says: “All non-fiction Lance Armstrong titles, including Lance Armstrong: Images of a Champion, The Lance Armstrong Performance Program and Lance Armstrong: World's Greatest Champion, will soon be moved to the fiction section.” At the bottom of the sign is a smiley-face emoticon.
But The Sydney Morning Herald reports the sign was put up as a practical joke by a college student.
“This person just works a few hours on the weekend and he didn't have any authority to make a statement on behalf of the library," Wendy Ford, Manly Library's community liaison librarian, told the Herald.
According to Ford, the library would need permission from Libraries Australia to shelf the Armstrong books in the fiction section. But while his books can still be found in the non-fiction section, Armstrong is still taking heat on Amazon.com.
“As a biography, this book is clearly a total fraud. As the fiction we now know it to be, it is mediocre at best,” one comments reads on Armstrong’s “It's Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life.”
Despite some of the more recent negative reviews, the book still has an average of four-and-a-half stars.
Armstrong was stripped of his titles, is banned from cycling for life and may lose millions of dollars because of his confession last week.
