KiCad EDA Newb Needs Help Getting Started

You might really need to take a look at the (Start Here) Frequently Asked Questions

particularly:

Maybe also


The symbols in the digikey lib are already connected to a footprint within their library. (so called fully specified symbols or sometimes also called atomic parts)
The same is true for many symbols in the kicad library.

You can of course still overwrite this connection later on. (useful as you for example might want to use the handsolder version of a part.)