US bookstore chain Borders -- owner of UK chain Books Etc. -- is set to bring printing on-demand to its shops, thanks to an agreement to be signed today with Atlanta-based Sprout. The deal, which will see Borders take a minority stake in Sprout, will provide the bookseller will the technology it needs to print high quality paperback copies of out-of-print or limited-distribution booksm, according to today's Wall Street Journal. The company will initially offer the service through its main distribution centre, but the technology could be quickly rolled out to its stores as the company fights to compete with online stores like Amazon.com, whose stock-lists are so much longer. ®