Friday, June 16, 2006

Barnes & Noble Earns Top Rating in the 2010 Corporate Equality Index for the Second Year in a Row

Barnes & Noble Earns Top Rating in the 2010 Corporate Equality Index for the Second Year in a Row

Barnes & Noble Achieves Rating of 100 Percent in Human Rights Campaign Foundation's Annual Index

New York, NY (PRWEB) September 14, 2009

Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the world's largest bookseller, proudly announced today that it has earned the top rating of 100 percent for the second year in a row in the 2010 Corporate Equality Index (CEI), an annual survey administered by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, the nation's largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization. Barnes & Noble joins the ranks of 304 other major U. S. businesses which received top marks for their treatment of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) employees and consumers.

"At Barnes & Noble we are as passionate about our booksellers as we are about bookselling. It is an honor to be recognized once again by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation for our dedication to recruiting the best and most diverse talent and providing them with expanded and competitive benefits," said Michelle Smith, Vice President of Human Resources for Barnes & Noble, Inc. "Our booksellers make the Barnes & Noble experience special for our customers, and we make enormous efforts to create a rewarding career experience for each of them. We also believe a great bookstore is a reflection of its community as well as its booksellers, and annually host more than 100,000 local events, which support and reflect the diversity of the communities we serve."

The CEI rated 590 businesses in total on a scale from 0 to 100 percent, evaluating LGBT-related policies and practices including non-discrimination policies, transgender health benefits and domestic partner benefits. Once again, Barnes & Noble's efforts in ensuring LGBT equality in each of the survey's main criterion earned it the prestigious 100 percent ranking.

For more information on the 2010 Corporate Equality Index, or to download a free copy of the report, visit HRC. org (http://www. hrc. org/cei? cm_mmc=press_release-_-PR_Web-_-CEI-_-HumanRights).

About Barnes & Noble, Inc.
Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the world's largest bookseller and a Fortune 500 company, operates 774 bookstores in 50 states. Barnes & Noble is the nation's top bookseller brand for the sixth 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 (http://www. bn. com? cm_mmc=press_release-_-PR_Web-_-CEI-_-HumanRights), one of the Web's largest e-commerce sites, which also features hundreds of thousands of titles in its eBookstore (http://www. bn. com/ebooks? cm_mmc=press_release-_-PR_Web-_-CEI-_-HumanRights). Customers can buy and read eBooks on a wide range of platforms, including the iPhone and iPod touch, BlackBerry® smartphones, as well as most Windows® and Mac® laptops or full-sized desktop computers.

General information on Barnes & Noble, Inc. can be obtained via the Internet by visiting the company's corporate website: BarnesandNobleInc. com (http://www. barnesandnobleinc. com? cm_mmc=press_release-_-PR_Web-_-CEI-_-HumanRights).

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