Yesterday, I spent a few hours at the Barnes and Noble Library. Have you heard.. Barnes & Noble now has a business library.. not!

A few months ago I rediscovered the traditional library. We have several in my neighborhood and I forgot how fun it could be to get and read books for no cost. You have the ability to bring a bunch of books home, pick and choose what you like, then return them all when you are done. The $1 DVD rentals aren’t bad either. The downside is that the library does not have many new business or sales related books. They’re strong on the fiction, but low on the new non-fiction.

I am also admittedly, low on the book reading, attention span side. I love business magazines and businesses websites, but I can rarely make it through every page of a business book- preferring the skimming technique and only reading sections that interest me. Knowing that, I don’t like plunking down hundreds of bucks for new business books.

I’ve been working on a number of new projects and needed some business inspiration. And, I thought some new business books and magazines could give me a fresh perspective.

So, I decided to make a visit to my local Barnes & Noble book store, but not plan to buy anything. Instead, I treated it like a library visit. (Don’t tell them!!)

I had recently read some online news about Barnes & Noble.. and how sales were down, they were cutting costs and the press was wondering how they could continue to compete in the online space. I figured they would not mind my visit- even if I didn’t plan to buy. I still looked like a prospective customer.

I started at the magazine section and pulled out a few of my favorite business magazines including Selling Power and Success. I then made my way to the business aisle and pulled out about five different books that sounded interesting. I found a seat (looked for those nice armchairs, but settled for the only thing available- a wooden bench) and began browsing. After reviewing my first installment, I returned the products to their homes and started with a round two.

Several of the books seemed great on the outside, but were of lot of “blah, blah, blah” on the inside. But, there were a few that I truly enjoyed.. "Words That Sell" by Richard Bayan, "Never Eat Alone" by Keith Ferrazzi and "Pop- Create the Perfect Pitch, Title & Tagline" By Sam Horn.

While I reviewed all the printed materials, I (gasp) took notes! I jotted down my favorite bits of info and the titles of the books I liked.

As I had hoped, the book review spurred some creative thinking and I came away with some great ideas and a new perspective on some of the problems I was trying to solve.

When I returned home, I ordered my three favorite books, used, on Amazon.com for a fraction of the cost they would have been new at Barnes & Noble. I spent around $30 for all three, versus the $100 ish they would have cost in the store.

All in all, a great visit to the Barnes & Noble store. I’ll be back again soon.