It is possible to move forward without committing significant staff time or funding. Use someone else's money . Local foundations are a good source of funds for this kind of project. Develop a limited proposal and outsource it. This involves a minimum of staff time and can include several entire books.
LSTA money is also currently available for digitization.
Use someone else's time. Others in your community have done the work and are looking for someone to provide web space, stability and publicity. Genealogy and historical societies are great places to recruit volunteers for OCR projects. Schools have classes that study local history, writing and computer science. It only takes one teacher to bring a whole class of volunteers with her.