
It explores the time period during which Amish teenagers are free to explore modern life in the outside world before choosing to commit, as adults, to living according to traditional Amish ways. This period of freedom is known as rumschpringe (literally, "running around") and typically lasts from the completion of school until marriage in their early twenties. Although the documentary does not focus on libraries, it is interesting to note the implications of teenagers' experimenting with a modern lifestyle; i.e. it is this age group which is most likely to make use of a library's alternate media formats such as cd's, videos, and dvd's -- items which are frequently not permitted at home.
More can be read on this topic at Wikipedia. There's also a great article about this topic and the film at NPR.
Uhler, Linda. (2006, June). From Kerosene to Computers: The Library Links Two Worlds in an Amish Community. Voice of Youth Advoctates 29(2), 126-127.

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