The Butte Free Public Library was established in 1894. At that time, head librarian J. Davies published a catalog of the opening collection. Two fires and one flood later, many of the monographs from that original collection list have, remarkably, survived. Because of this, in part, the library, now known as the Butte-Silver Bow Public Library (BSBPL), launched the Butte Digital Image Project (BDIP) in July 2009. This is an initiative to create digital surrogates of monographs and pamphlets in the library collection dating from the end of the 19th/beginning of the 20th century. Even though the collection--focused on Butte, mining, labor, Montana, and Western history--no longer circulates, BSBPL wanted to both preserve and provide access to these items. When the BDIP was launched, the expectation was that the library would digitize and make available physical items from the library collection. This article discusses how the project shifts its focus from collection to community. By staying open to possibilities during the digitization process, BDIP was able to shift its goals to meet community interests, developing a digitization project that directly reflects the goals and interests of the Butte community.