Important Announcement on the Kids First Conference
The leadership at the State Library has made the decision to transition the in-person Kids First Conference to a virtual, online-only event. This is being done out of an abundance of caution to lessen the chance of spreading the COVID-19 Coronavirus.
The Kids First virtual conference will still occur April 6-7, and will now be offered to attendees for FREE.
Librarians who have registered and already submitted payment will be issued refunds; please be patient as we figure out the refund process with State accounting staff. Librarians whose registrations were pending approval will be automatically approved and payment should not be sent. Registered attendees may receive an automated email generated by the CE Catalog once the payment requirement is removed. You do not have to re-register for the virtual conference. In addition, hotel reservations should be canceled by calling the Gateway Hotel at 515-292-8600.
The same keynotes are set to headline, and Youth Services Consultant Angie Manfredi will be working with the other session presenters to move their presentations to an online format. As a result, the preliminary schedule we were set to announce this week will be delayed while we confirm with presenters.
The Kids First virtual conference will be offered through Zoom, which is the same platform used for all State Library online continuing education. We hope to record concurrent sessions and make them available for later viewing.
If you’re interested in attending Kids First and have not yet registered, you are welcome to join us at the virtual conference at no cost:
Thank you for your understanding and patience as we work on this transition. The health and safety of you and our communities is most important, and we’re following the advice and guidance of public health and government officials in making this determination.
We are pleased we can still offer the conference in a virtual format, and are confident attendees will still receive inspiring and educational content and come away energized and excited for advancing youth services in Iowa. Finally, we want to let you know that plans are already underway to schedule an in-person event for Iowa youth librarians in Spring 2021.
Questions or concerns?
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