Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the leading retailer of content, digital media and educational products, today announced that it collected and donated close to 1.2 million books for children in need all over the country during its 2011 Holiday Book Drive, thanks to the generous support of customers and its enthusiastic booksellers.

"Barnes & Noble customers are generous every year and this holiday season certainly was no exception. Children who are less fortunate unwrapped many books this year thanks to the thoughtfulness of Barnes & Noble customers," said Sarah DiFrancesco, Director of Community Relations for Barnes & Noble. "This holiday tradition is a wonderful way for booksellers and customers to come together and give the gift of reading to children in their local communities."

Community partners who have already begun distributing the books collected by Barnes & Noble booksellers include schools, libraries, and social service organizations. Local recipients include Maria Fareri Children's Hospital in New York, Motts Children's Hospital in Michigan, Big Brothers Big Sisters, the Utah Foster Care Foundation, the Domestic Violence Center of Santa Clarita, the Minnesota Literary Council, Children's Service Society of Wisconsin, Head Start of Western Pennsylvania, Durham's Partnership for Children, the United Way of Baton Rouge, Charlotte Emergency Housing, and many other deserving organizations.

The annual Barnes & Noble Holiday Book Drive invited customers to purchase books for donations at Barnes & Noble bookstores all across the country between November 1, 2011 and January 1, 2012.

About Barnes & Noble, Inc.

Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE:BKS), the world's largest bookseller and a Fortune 500 company, operates 703 bookstores in 50 states. Barnes & Noble College Booksellers, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Barnes & Noble, also operates 637 college bookstores serving over 4.6 million students and faculty members at colleges and universities across the United States. Barnes & Noble conducts its online business through BN.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 digital books and content on the widest range of platforms, including NOOK devices, partner company products, and 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.

NOOK®, NOOK Tablet?, NOOK Simple Touch ?, NOOK 1st Edition?, NOOK 1st Edition Wi-Fi?, NOOK Color?, Reader's Tablet?, PagePerfect?, Best-Text?, Fast Page?, NOOK Books?, NOOK Store?, NOOK Bookstore?, NOOK Newsstand?, NOOK Magazines?, VividView?, ArticleView?, NOOK Newspapers?, NOOK Comics?, NOOK Cloud?, NOOK Apps?, FREE NOOK Reading Apps?, PubIt!?, NOOK Discover?, NOOK Kids?, Read and Play?, Read to Me?, Read and Record?, NOOK Digital Shop?, Read In Store?, More In Store?, NOOK Friends?, LendMe®, NOOK Library?, NOOK Boutiques?, The Barnes & Noble Promise?, NOOK Books en español?, NOOK Study?, Free Friday?, Lifetime Library? and Read What You Love. Anywhere You Like? are trademarks of Barnes & Noble, Inc. SCRABBLE is a trademark of Hasbro in the U.S. and Canada and used with permission. Plants vs. Zombies is a registered trademark of PopCap Games. Other trademarks referenced in this release are the property of their respective owners.

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Barnes & Noble, Inc.
Mary Ellen Keating
Corporate Communications
212-633-3323
mkeating@bn.com
or
Barnes & Noble, Inc.
Carolyn J. Brown
Corporate Communications
212-633-4062
cbrown@bn.com