diff --git a/src/esqlite3_nif.erl b/src/esqlite3_nif.erl
index d757c0b..9e3cf2c 100644
--- a/src/esqlite3_nif.erl
+++ b/src/esqlite3_nif.erl
@@ -82,12 +82,33 @@
 
 init() ->
     NifName = "esqlite3_nif",
-    NifFileName = case code:priv_dir(esqlite) of
-                      {error, bad_name} -> filename:join("priv", NifName);
-                      Dir -> filename:join(Dir, NifName)
-                  end,
+    NifFileName = filename:join(get_priv_dir(), NifName),
     ok = erlang:load_nif(NifFileName, 0).
 
+%% @private
+get_priv_dir() ->
+    case code:priv_dir(esqlite) of
+        {error, bad_name} ->
+            %% application isn't in path, fall back
+            case is_escript() of
+                {true,Escript} ->
+                    io:format("Escript = ~p~n", [Escript]),
+                    Which = code:which(esqlite),
+                    io:format("Which = ~p~n", [Which]),
+                    {Pref,Suf} = lists:split(erlang:length(Escript), Which),
+                    io:format("Pref = ~p~n", [Pref]),
+                    io:format("Suf = ~p~n", [Suf]),
+                    RootDir = filename:dirname(filename:dirname(Pref)),
+                    AppsDir = filename:join(RootDir, "lib"),
+                    io:format("AppsDir = ~p~n", [AppsDir]),
+                    SqDir = filename:dirname(filename:dirname(Suf)),
+                    filename:join([AppsDir, [$.|SqDir], "priv"]); % prepend "." to suffix that starts with "/"
+                false ->
+                    filename:join("priv", NifName)
+            end;
+        Dir ->
+            Dir
+    end.
 
 %% @doc Open the specified sqlite3 database. 
 %%      It is possible to use sqlite's uri filenames to open files.