Councillors here are giving a collective blessing to a project by the Minto Heritage Association, but they cannot give their permission.
The Town of Minto Heritage Association recently wrote to council asking for copyright permission to reproduce excerpts from Clifford Harriston’s A History of Minto Township for inclusion in The Barns of Minto Township: Volume 2.
While council liked the idea, deputy-mayor Judy Dirksen pointed out that Minto neither wrote, nor published that book.
“I’m not sure it is in our jurisdiction to give copyright permission. We just own a lot of books.”
She said that in most cases the source material is simply cited.
Councillor Tammy Reiner pointed out that her understanding is that copyright permission must come from the publisher.
Dirksen said, “So we can give our blessing – but not tell them they can have carte blanche.”
Mayor David Anderson said the group should still check with the publisher to get the copyright permission regarding the history book.
