Book seller Barnes & Noble on Monday introduced a web site that provides guides for do-it-yourself enthusiasts,  hobbyists, and personal improvement devotees.

The site, Quamut.com, is a departure of sorts for the New York City-based retail giant, which in both its brick-and-mortar and online outlets has rarely strayed far from its core, which is selling books, music, DVDs, and CDs.

Rival Amazon.com has also branched out, developing Kindle, an electronic book reader; bought Audible, an audio book seller; and invested in Amie Street, an indie online music store.

"Quamut is a departure in that it is only the second time that Barnes & Noble has built a digital publishing business," said Dan Weiss, publisher and managing director of Quamut. "But it is still related to our retail business."

Quamut is an idea triggered in part by SparkNotes.com,  a test preparation site acquired by Amazon in 2001. Quamut's do-it-yourself guides will be written by experts and fact-checked and edited before they are put online.

Mr. Weiss believes the Barnes & Noble brand will lend credibility to a market made up mostly of small, narrowly focused web sites.

But for those who choose to supplement data generated by experts with consumer-generated information, Quamut has a wiki sister site that features how-to guides contributed by the public.