Australian Library Employee Jokes About Moving Lance Armstrong Books to Fiction Section

Who says librarians don't have a sense of humor?

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image: Lance Armstrong waves after receiving the bronze medal in the men's individual time trials at the 2000 Summer Olympics cycling road course in Sydney, Australia, Sept. 30, 2000.
Ricardo Mazalan / AP

Lance Armstrong waves after receiving the bronze medal in the men's individual time trials at the 2000 Summer Olympics cycling road course in Sydney, Australia, Sept. 30, 2000.

This past Saturday, an employee at an Australian library put up a sign announcing that its Lance Armstrong books would be relocated to the fiction section, after the famous cyclist admitted to doping on his way to seven Tour de France victories. The sign in the Manly Library, located in a suburb of Sydney, said:

“ALL NON-FICTION LANCE ARMSTRONG BOOKS, 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. THANK YOU, MANLY LIBRARY”

Several patrons snapped pictures of the tongue-in-cheek message, which concludes with a smiley face, and posted them to Twitter and Reddit. The sign quickly went viral. The employee who created it isn’t exactly being praised for his creativity, however. “There will be an internal review with the person who put the signage up,” Wendy Ford, the acting manager of the Manly Library told the Sydney Morning Herald. “He didn’t have any authority to make a statement on behalf of the library.”

(MORE: Why Lance Armstrong Is Finally Coming Clean)

Ford said the sign was put up “as a bit of a joke” by a college student who works occasional shifts. “He didn’t mean it to be offensive in any way,” she said. “He just thought it was something that would be humorous and didn’t for one minute think it would be as big as it is. He is very contrite.” When Sydney Morning Herald asked whether the prankster would be punished in any way, Ford said it was unlikely. “We’re hoping it does just blow over.”

(MORE: Lance Armstrong’s Confession and the Psychology of the Competitor)