Barnes & Noble College Textbooks Options Will Save Students More Than $200 Million This School Year

*Digital, Rental and Used Textbooks Provide Savings of 25 to 75 Percent

*Expands Popular No-Hassle Textbook Rentals Nationwide

*Award-Winning NOOK™ Devices Now Offered Through All Campus Bookstores

New York, New York – – As financially strapped higher education students head back to campus for the new school year, many will find dramatic savings and great convenience at their Barnes & Noble College campus bookstores. The world’s largest bookseller and an innovator in college bookselling, Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), projects the over four million higher education students it serves will save more than $200 million during the 2011-2012 academic year thanks to the company’s offering of used, rental, and eTextbooks (both rental and purchase options) with savings between 25 to 75 percent. The company also announced it would offer its highly acclaimed line of NOOK reading devices through its more than 630 Barnes & Noble College bookstores.

Already an established source for lower-cost used textbooks, Barnes & Noble has made a major effort to increase the availability and selection of less expensive textbook options and make the process easier for students. The company, which was the first major retailer to offer a multi-channel textbook rental program, announced it has expanded that highly successful program to nearly all of its Barnes & Noble College campus bookstores this semester, offering significant savings of more than 50 percent over a new printed book for millions of higher education students and their families. Through its popular textbook rental program, Barnes & Noble College offers students the convenience of renting their books either in the campus bookstore or from the bookstore’s Web site, reducing the need to pay shipping costs or wait for their books to arrive in the mail. Students also have the choice to return their rental textbooks to the campus bookstore or via mail using free return shipping.

As part of its commitment to deliver the next generation of educational content, last year, Barnes & Noble launched NOOK Study™, its free digital study platform and eTextbook reader application. NOOK Study (www.nookstudy.com/college) delivers a more engaging and enhanced eTextbook experience for students and faculty thanks to its wide array of interactive features and tools. NOOK Study can be downloaded at no cost onto a PC or Mac, with no special device or tablet required, which further adds to the savings. eTextbooks save students up to 60 percent over the cost of purchasing a new printed textbook.

With NOOK Study, students have even greater flexibility and options because they can rent as well as purchase many eTextbook titles. Additionally, for students who aren’t sure they are ready to go digital, NOOK Study offers a free seven day trial of many eTextbooks so students can experience the electronic format before they actually purchase the title.

“Our college offerings are designed in response to what students and faculty members tell us they want and need. Barnes & Noble has always worked to democratize books and reading and our approach was designed to deliver textbooks in a variety of formats and provide options that help lessen the financial impact on students in their quest for an education,” said Jade Roth, vice president of books and digital strategy at Barnes & Noble. “Not surprisingly, given the dramatic impact the current economy has had on higher education costs, finding ways to make college more affordable is on everyone’s mind. Our research shows that two-thirds of professors consider textbook pricing in selecting their coursework.”

No matter what format the student prefers, cost savings run deep with Barnes & Noble’s range of textbook options:

*Textbook Rentals. For students who don’t want to keep their books for future reference, rental textbooks are a popular option with savings of more than 50 percent.
*Used Books. Students who buy used textbooks save an immediate 25 percent, but their savings can jump to 75 percent if they sell those books back to their Barnes & Noble College bookstore at the end of term.
*eTextbooks. While still a relatively new option, more students are discovering the convenience, features and savings of up to 60 percent for going digital. As a result, eTextbook sales are expected to grow in popularity in the coming year.

Reinforcing the continuing importance of on-campus bookstores – even in the digital age – nearly 60 percent of eTextbook purchases were made in the Barnes & Noble College bookstore. To learn more about the various textbook options available for students, visit your campus bookstore’s website www.bncollege.com/college.aspx.

NOOKs at More Campus Bookstores

The company is also expanding its offering of award-winning NOOK devices – including the All-New NOOK™ and NOOK Color™ – through all of its Barnes & Noble College campus bookstores. The majority of its college bookstores will feature a NOOK display including demonstration units for local students, faculty and others to try and buy the company’s innovative NOOK products. Other Barnes & Noble College bookstores will feature NOOK signage where booksellers can help customers order devices that will be shipped to the customer’s address.

“We’re excited to offer even more students and campus bookstore customers a way to explore our bestselling NOOK devices by showcasing our award-winning products in hundreds of our Barnes & Noble College bookstores,” added Roth. “When they’re not studying from their physical or digital textbooks, students will enjoy having easy access to their favorite books, newspapers, magazines and more on NOOK and NOOK Color, both featuring sleek, lightweight designs that won’t weigh them down. Students will particularly like the great tablet features NOOK Color offers including popular apps, e-mail and an enhanced Web experience.”

The All-New NOOK, the Simple Touch Reader™, offers long-lasting battery life of up to two months, the most advanced E Ink® Pearl display for a crisp, clean reading experience and a great social experience to share reading information and recommendations with friends, all for only $139. The highly acclaimed NOOK Color Reader’s Tablet™ is the best value on the tablet market at $249 and designed for those who love to read everything – books, enhanced books, magazines, newspapers and children’s books – all in rich, beautiful color. NOOK Color also offers a collection of high-quality apps, built-in e-mail and enhanced Web browsing – perfect for students to learn and stay connected through their studies. Both products offer access to Barnes & Noble’s expansive catalog of more than 2 million titles – from new releases to bestsellers to classics. To learn more about NOOK products, visit www.nook.com.

About Barnes & Noble, Inc.

Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE:BKS), the world’s largest bookseller and a Fortune 500 company, operates 705 bookstores in 50 states. Barnes & Noble College Booksellers, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Barnes & Noble, also operates 636 college bookstores serving nearly 4.6 million students and faculty members at colleges and universities across the United States. Barnes & Noble is the nation’s top bookseller brand for the seventh year in a row, as determined by a combination of the brand’s performance on familiarity, quality, and purchase intent; the top bookseller in quality for the second year in a row and the number two retailer in trust, according to the EquiTrend® Brand Study by Harris Interactive®. Barnes & Noble conducts its online business through Barnes & Noble.com (www.bn.com), one of the Web’s largest e-commerce sites, which also features more than two million titles in its NOOK Bookstore™ (www.bn.com/ebooks). Through Barnes & Noble’s NOOK™ eReading product offering, customers can buy and read eBooks on the widest range of platforms, including NOOK eBook Readers, devices from partner companies, and hundreds of the most popular mobile and computing devices using free NOOK software.

General information on Barnes & Noble, Inc. can be obtained via the Internet by visiting the company’s corporate website: www.barnesandnobleinc.com.