.

             Trends of the future will also create opportunities for consumers to have more direct access to healthcare resources through digital references and alliances made available in health sciences libraries (Ernst & Young, 2001; Anton, Schneider & Silberglitt, 2001). Within the health sciences field investments continue to develop and create new opportunities each and every day (Ernst & Young, 2001). Biotechnology and information technology advancements will provide necessary services that will reinvent health care including "the way it is accessed, delivered and reimbursed" and that information will be readily available through health sciences libraries(Ernst & Young, 13). Not one aspect of health care will not be affective. .

             Preventive medicine and even "invasive surgical techniques" are expected to change thanks to biotechnological advances. Biotechnology has allowed tremendous strides in research including mapping the human genome, quickening the pace of biotechnology research and "providing for discovery of newer drugs faster than drug companies can market them" (Ernst & Young 13). In the world of the future virtual drug testing might arise that will reduce the expense, risk and time it takes for traditional researchers to assess how drugs will affect patients (Ernst & Young, 13; Brower 2000; Anton, Schneider & Silberglitt, 2001).

             Technology will also enable companies to identify new markets and find new ways to store and manipulate "massive health science data sets" referred to as improved data mining capability thus enhancing the health sciences libraries ability to provide consumers and companies with vital information and data relevant to individual needs(Ernst & Young 13). This in turn will allow researchers to create new models for disease including diabetes, obesity and asthma, and may help researchers examine how well medicines work and how they affect consumers (Brook, Damberg & Ker, 1998.