diff --git a/node/index.js b/node/index.js
index 7a1c805..d885db4 100644
--- a/node/index.js
+++ b/node/index.js
@@ -4,19 +4,40 @@ import url from 'url';
 
 const __dirname = url.fileURLToPath(new URL('.', import.meta.url));
 
-var lib = ffi.Library(
-  'libextism',
-  {
-    extism_plugin_register: ['int32', ['string', 'uint64', 'bool']],
-    extism_error: ['char*', ['int32']],
-    extism_call: ['int32', ['int32', 'string', 'string', 'uint64']],
-    extism_output_length: ['uint64', ['int32']],
-    extism_output_get: ['void', ['int32', 'char*', 'uint64']],
-    extism_log_file: ['bool', ['string', 'char*']],
-    extism_plugin_config: ['void', ['int32', 'char*', 'uint64']],
-  }
-)
+let _functions = {
+  extism_plugin_register: ['int32', ['string', 'uint64', 'bool']],
+  extism_error: ['char*', ['int32']],
+  extism_call: ['int32', ['int32', 'string', 'string', 'uint64']],
+  extism_output_length: ['uint64', ['int32']],
+  extism_output_get: ['void', ['int32', 'char*', 'uint64']],
+  extism_log_file: ['bool', ['string', 'char*']],
+  extism_plugin_config: ['void', ['int32', 'char*', 'uint64']],
+};
 
+function locate(paths) {
+  for (var i = 0; i < paths.length; i++) {
+    try {
+      return ffi.Library(
+        path.join(paths[i], 'libextism'),
+        _functions
+      )
+    } catch (exn) {
+      continue;
+    }
+  }
+
+
+  throw "Unable to locate libextism";
+}
+
+var searchPath =
+  [__dirname, "/usr/local/lib", "/usr/lib", path.join(process.env.HOME, ".local")]
+
+if (process.env.EXTISM_PATH) {
+  searchPath.unshift(path.join(process.env.EXTISM_PATH, "lib"));
+}
+
+var lib = locate(searchPath);
 export function set_log_file(filename, level = null) {
   lib.extism_log_file(filename, level)
 }