Dear ULA Members,
It is with great regret that the Board announces the cancellation of the 2020 Annual ULA Conference that was to be held in St. George May 13-15, 2020. This difficult decision was made due to the sweeping concerns and travel moratoriums due to the Coronavirus that went in place by various organizations, including government and library entities across the state in the last few days. Some of these moratoriums are announced to last up until the scheduled conference dates. The board had an emergency session today and determined it was in the best financial interest of the association in the face of uncertain circumstances out of the board’s control to make the cancellation now while the costs that must be absorbed are lower than to have a conference that very likely few will be able to attend. The board also investigated the possibility of postponing the conference to this fall, but took into consideration that many librarians from our variety of institutions struggle to travel during that season for a multi-day conference away from home. The venues and lodging were also very tight on availability due to other conferences planned during that season.
In the coming days plans will be made to refund registration fees and sponsorship donations. We will send out more information to those affected. The board is also looking at how to make the Fall Workshop on September 25, 2020 a unique event this year.
We thank you for your support of the Utah Library Association and sincerely apologize for this loss. Our next annual conference will be the combined Mountain Plains Library Association/Utah Library Association Conference May 19-21, 2021 in Sandy.
Very respectfully,
Vern Waters, ULA President
Daniel Mauchley, ULA President-Elect