Usage of electronic resources in times of peace and conflict in the university of Kashmir: A study

The present study explores the usage of electronic resources by the academicians in Kashmir (Indian Administered) in times of conflict (2008–2010) and peace (2011–2013). It is an attempt to investigate the influence of political conditions on the usage of electronic resources. Statistics of usage at the University of Kashmir were provided by the Information and Library Network Centre consortium (INFLIBNET) for 6 years – January 2008 to December 2013. This period can be divided in two parts: a conflict period (2008–2010) and a peace period (2011–2013). While a small yearly increase in e-resource usage can be seen in each of these two periods, there is a huge jump (an increase by 196%) from the war to the peace period. Our study confirms and strengthens the results of a previous study, which was limited to the Muse database only. It proves that the effect of peace vs. war is valid for the hard sciences (biomedical, exact sciences and technology) as well as for the humanities and social sciences.