diff --git a/datasette/plugins.py b/datasette/plugins.py
index 017f3b9d..a93145cf 100644
--- a/datasette/plugins.py
+++ b/datasette/plugins.py
@@ -1,10 +1,15 @@
 import importlib.metadata
-import importlib.resources
 import os
 import pluggy
 import sys
 from . import hookspecs
 
+if sys.version_info >= (3, 9):
+    import importlib.resources as importlib_resources
+else:
+    import importlib_resources
+
+
 DEFAULT_PLUGINS = (
     "datasette.publish.heroku",
     "datasette.publish.cloudrun",
@@ -61,13 +66,13 @@ def get_plugins():
         templates_path = None
         if plugin.__name__ not in DEFAULT_PLUGINS:
             try:
-                if (importlib.resources.files(plugin.__name__) / "static").is_dir():
+                if (importlib_resources.files(plugin.__name__) / "static").is_dir():
                     static_path = str(
-                        importlib.resources.files(plugin.__name__) / "static"
+                        importlib_resources.files(plugin.__name__) / "static"
                     )
-                if (importlib.resources.files(plugin.__name__) / "templates").is_dir():
+                if (importlib_resources.files(plugin.__name__) / "templates").is_dir():
                     templates_path = str(
-                        importlib.resources.files(plugin.__name__) / "templates"
+                        importlib_resources.files(plugin.__name__) / "templates"
                     )
             except (TypeError, ModuleNotFoundError):
                 # Caused by --plugins_dir= plugins
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 415fd27c..a2728f6b 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@ setup(
         "Jinja2>=2.10.3",
         "hupper>=1.9",
         "httpx>=0.20",
+        'importlib_resources>=1.3.1; python_version < "3.9"',
         "pint>=0.9",
         "pluggy>=1.0",
         "uvicorn>=0.11",