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The Sustainability Playbook describes a holistic approach to project sustainability for open source creators at UC.
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# Sustainability playbook
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This repository contains the nascent UC OSPO Sustainability Playbook website. It is a MyST Markdown site that acts as a standalone subproject linked to the core UC OSPO Network website.
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To ensure that this subproject's branding, layout, and global navigation match the core site, we use a custom `Makefile` to synchronize certain assets periodically.
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---
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## 🛠️ Syncing with ucospo.net
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Any time the core branding images, custom css, or footer.md file changes on [ucospo.net](https://github.com/UC-OSPO-Network/ucospo.net), this playbook repository should be manually "synced" to pull down a copy of all those assets. This should be a very infrequent occurrence.
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Run `make sync` to download the global footer, core CSS, and brand images (logos, favicons) from the ucospo.net repository. The Makefile uses sed to edit the paths in footer.md to be relative to this repo instead of the ucospo.net repo.
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---
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## 📂 Project structure
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Because we periodically sync files from an external repository, local assets must be placed in the correct folders so they aren't overwritten or deleted during a `make sync`.
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```text
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playbook/
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├── Makefile # Asset sync automation
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├── myst.yml # MyST site configuration
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├── images/ # 🟢 PUT PLAYBOOK-SPECIFIC IMAGES HERE
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├── static/
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│ ├── css/
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│ │ ├── playbook.css # 🟢 PUT PLAYBOOK-SPECIFIC CSS HERE
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│ │ └── combined.css # 🔴 Auto-generated (Do not edit)
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│ └── brand_assets/ # 🔴 Auto-generated (Do not edit)
Welcome to the demo website for the Sustainability Playbook. We're sharing this site with collaborators and potential collaborators to demonstrate our vision for the look, feel, and tone of the book.
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All pages except the introduction are placeholders for now. We'll fill them in as soon as we can!
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Let us know what you think! [Leave an issue](https://github.com/UC-OSPO-Network/playbook) or email us at ospo@library.ucsb.edu.
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# Introduction
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Open source software (OSS) is ubiquitous in academia, just as it is ubiquitous in every layer of our digital lives. It's been [estimated](https://todogroup.org/blog/state-of-ospo-2024/) that 94% of companies use open source software, all major programming languages are available in open source implementations, and as you read this document right now, you're using OSS, too. The remarkable success of OSS, however, belies a crisis under the surface. A large proportion of open source maintainers are overworked, underpaid, and [battling burnout](https://www.sonarsource.com/the-2024-tidelift-maintainer-impact-report.pdf), even those who are maintaining projects with enormous utility. Academic open source maintainers are no exception--surveys show that the majority of research software contributors lack sufficient funding to support software development activities for their research ([Carver et al. 2022](https://peerj.com/articles/cs-963/)), and that they believe the most useful support a university could provide for their software development work would be grants for sustainability ([Scarlett et al. 2026](https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/p8bx6_v1)). Addressing this crisis on a global scale will take time, but there are things that you can do now to strengthen your project's financial and social future.
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Open source software (OSS) is ubiquitous in academia, just as it is ubiquitous in every layer of our digital lives. It's been [estimated](https://todogroup.org/blog/state-of-ospo-2024/) that 94% of companies use open source software, all major programming languages are available in open source implementations, and as you read this document right now, you're using OSS, too. The remarkable success of OSS, however, belies a crisis under the surface. A large proportion of open source maintainers are overworked, underpaid, and [battling burnout](https://www.sonarsource.com/the-2024-tidelift-maintainer-impact-report.pdf), even those who are maintaining projects with great utility. Academic open source maintainers are no exception--surveys show that the majority of research software contributors lack sufficient funding to support software development activities for their research ([Carver et al. 2022](https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj-cs.963)), and that they believe the most useful support a university could provide for their software development work would be grants for sustainability ([Scarlett et al. 2026](https://doi.org/10.1371/journal/pone.0348894)). Addressing this crisis on a global scale will take time, but there are things that you can do now to strengthen your project's financial and social future.
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This playbook is for contributors, creators, and maintainers of academic open source software (OSS) at the University of California. We’ll discuss the strategies that UC OSS projects have used to sustain success, ways that UC was a partner on the journey, and some ways in which UC is still catching up to the fast-moving world of OSS. Hardware creators will also find useful content here, though the focus is on software (hardware creators may want to also check out [https://ouch-advice.github.io/](https://ouch-advice.github.io/)). Whether you're a faculty member, staff, or student, if you’re interested in how open source projects do more with less, this playbook is for you.
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Various definitions of open source sustainability have been proposed (e.g. [OSAOS](https://osaos-book.codeforscience.org/), [Daniel Katz](https://danielskatzblog.wordpress.com/2018/09/26/fundamentals-of-software-sustainability/), [SustainOSS](https://sustainoss.org/about/)), but the gist of them is this: a sustainable project is a living thing, adaptable, persistent, and resilient to challenge or uncertainty. As technology and user needs evolve, a sustainable project resists obsolescence, and either stays relevant or grows increasingly useful to a community of users and contributors. This playbook is designed to help you cultivate a sustainability mindset–keeping an eye out for opportunities, and making time for activities with long-term payoffs.
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> A sustainable project is a living thing, adaptable, persistent, and resilient to challenge or uncertainty.
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Many academics may understandably feel that sustainability means funding. However, plenty of well-funded projects have fizzled out, and plenty of scrappy projects have achieved remarkable success. The magic of open source is that it’s often powered by people who are motivated by more than money, so in OSS, as the saying goes, money isn’t everything. We offer a holistic approach to sustainability, inspired by the four facets presented in the [It Takes a Village Guidebook by Lyrasis](https://itav.lyrasis.org/guidebook/):
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Many academics may understandably feel that sustainability means funding. However, plenty of well-funded projects have fizzled out, and plenty of scrappy projects have achieved remarkable success. In OSS, as the saying goes, money isn’t everything. We offer a holistic approach to sustainability, inspired by the four facets presented in the [It Takes a Village Guidebook by Lyrasis](https://itav.lyrasis.org/guidebook/):
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***Discoverability:** Provide records that will make your software easier to find and use.
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***Funding:** Consider five topics relevant to funding open source: sponsored projects; gifts; non-profits and fiscal sponsorship; entrepreneurship; and shared resources and academic fee-for-service.
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***Funding:** Consider five mechanisms for funding for academic open source: sponsored projects; gifts; non-profits and fiscal sponsorship; entrepreneurship; and institutional funding.
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***Community:** Build a welcoming community to fuel innovation, recognition, and trust.
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***Product design:** Encourage community contributions by building a codebase that is designed to be modified.
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```{image}static/images/facets.png
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```{image} images/facets.png
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:alt: A diagram showing the four facets of sustainability with decorative pictures above each
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:align: center
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```
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The descriptions of university offices (such as Sponsored Projects, Strategic Research Initiatives, etc.) and their workflows are based on the authors’ research and understanding. This content has not been officially reviewed, approved, or endorsed by the specific offices mentioned. University policies and procedures are subject to change; researchers should always consult directly with the relevant administrative offices for the most current guidance and to ensure compliance with university and funder requirements.
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## Related resources
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```{image} static/images/ospo_link.png
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:width: 100px
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:alt: UC OSPO Network logo next to a hyperlink symbol
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:align: left
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::::{grid} 12 12 12 12
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:::{grid-item}
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:columns: 2
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```{image} images/ospo_link.png
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:width: 80%
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```
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:::
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:::{grid-item}
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:columns: 10
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Looking for more resources similar to this playbook? Check out these related works.
* A collection of resources on Open Source Hardware in research, teaching, and practice, from the perspective of UC experts; includes talks, interviews, and reusable materials for open source hardware projects.
* An open-source, community-driven handbook on how to make data science reproducible, ethical, collaborative, and accessible for everyone.
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*[GitHub open source guides](https://opensource.guide/)
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* The Open Source Guides constitute a handbook on growing and sustaining open source software projects. They were created and are curated by GitHub, along with input from community reviewers.
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*[It Takes a Village from Lyrasis](https://itav.lyrasis.org/)
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* A practical guide for OSS sustainability, rich with case studies and interviews, geared toward open-source software projects serving cultural and scientific heritage organizations.
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* A handbook on growing and sustaining open source software projects. Created and curated by GitHub, along with input from community reviewers.
* CHAOSS (Community Health Analytics in Open Source Software)’s Practitioner Guides contain advice for maintainers and practitioners about assessing and strengthening open source project health.
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*[It Takes a Village from Lyrasis](https://itav.lyrasis.org/)
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* A practical guide for OSS sustainability, rich with case studies and interviews, geared toward open-source software projects serving cultural and scientific heritage organizations.
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