diff --git a/lib/inspec/profile_context.rb b/lib/inspec/profile_context.rb
index 60402b827..cf9ded7f2 100644
--- a/lib/inspec/profile_context.rb
+++ b/lib/inspec/profile_context.rb
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 
 require 'inspec/rule'
 require 'inspec/dsl'
+require 'inspec/require_loader'
 require 'securerandom'
 
 module Inspec
@@ -19,6 +20,7 @@ module Inspec
       @backend = backend
       @conf = conf.dup
       @rules = {}
+      @require_loader = ::Inspec::RequireLoader.new
 
       reload_dsl
     end
@@ -26,7 +28,30 @@ module Inspec
     def reload_dsl
       resources_dsl = Inspec::Resource.create_dsl(@backend)
       ctx = create_context(resources_dsl, rule_context(resources_dsl))
-      @profile_context = ctx.new(@backend, @conf)
+      @profile_context = ctx.new(@backend, @conf, @require_loader)
+    end
+
+    def load_libraries(libs)
+      lib_prefix = 'libraries' + File::SEPARATOR
+      autoloads = []
+
+      libs.each do |content, source, line|
+        path = source
+        if source.start_with?(lib_prefix)
+          path = source.sub(lib_prefix, '')
+          autoloads.push(path) if File.dirname(path) == '.'
+        end
+
+        @require_loader.add(path, content, source, line)
+      end
+
+      # load all files directly that are flat inside the libraries folder
+      autoloads.each do |path|
+        next unless path.end_with?('.rb')
+        load(*@require_loader.load(path)) unless @require_loader.loaded?(path)
+      end
+
+      reload_dsl
     end
 
     def load(content, source = nil, line = nil)
@@ -100,12 +125,29 @@ module Inspec
         include Inspec::DSL
         include resources_dsl
 
-        def initialize(backend, conf) # rubocop:disable Lint/NestedMethodDefinition, Lint/DuplicateMethods
+        def initialize(backend, conf, require_loader) # rubocop:disable Lint/NestedMethodDefinition, Lint/DuplicateMethods
           @backend = backend
           @conf = conf
+          @require_loader = require_loader
           @skip_profile = false
         end
 
+        # Save the toplevel require method to load all ruby dependencies.
+        # It is used whenever the `require 'lib'` is not in libraries.
+        alias_method :__ruby_require, :require
+
+        def require(path)
+          rbpath = path + '.rb'
+          return __ruby_require(path) if !@require_loader.exists?(rbpath)
+          return false if @require_loader.loaded?(rbpath)
+
+          # This is equivalent to calling `require 'lib'` with lib on disk.
+          # We cannot rely on libraries residing on disk however.
+          # TODO: Sandboxing.
+          content, path, line = @require_loader.load(rbpath)
+          eval(content, TOPLEVEL_BINDING, path, line) # rubocop:disable Lint/Eval
+        end
+
         define_method :title do |arg|
           profile_context_owner.set_header(:title, arg)
         end
diff --git a/lib/inspec/require_loader.rb b/lib/inspec/require_loader.rb
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..1f5a71ac5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/inspec/require_loader.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+# encoding: utf-8
+# author: Dominik Richter
+# author: Christoph Hartmann
+
+module Inspec
+  class RequireLoader
+    Item = Struct.new(:content, :ref, :line, :loaded)
+
+    def initialize
+      @contents = {}
+    end
+
+    def add(path, content, ref, line)
+      @contents[path] = Item.new(content, ref, line, false)
+    end
+
+    def load(path)
+      c = @contents[path]
+      c.loaded = true
+      res = [c.content, c.ref, c.line || 1]
+      yield res if block_given?
+      res
+    end
+
+    def exists?(path)
+      @contents.key?(path)
+    end
+
+    def loaded?(path)
+      @contents[path].loaded == true
+    end
+  end
+end
diff --git a/lib/inspec/runner.rb b/lib/inspec/runner.rb
index 1bc8472f2..e03a45063 100644
--- a/lib/inspec/runner.rb
+++ b/lib/inspec/runner.rb
@@ -99,10 +99,7 @@ module Inspec
 
       # load all libraries
       ctx = create_context(options)
-      libs.each do |lib|
-        ctx.load(lib[:content].to_s, lib[:ref], lib[:line] || 1)
-        ctx.reload_dsl
-      end
+      ctx.load_libraries(libs.map { |x| [x[:content], x[:ref], x[:line]] })
 
       # hand the context to the profile for further evaluation
       unless (profile = options['profile']).nil?
diff --git a/test/functional/inspec_exec_test.rb b/test/functional/inspec_exec_test.rb
index 2e15d770a..1c5c03e20 100644
--- a/test/functional/inspec_exec_test.rb
+++ b/test/functional/inspec_exec_test.rb
@@ -105,4 +105,12 @@ describe 'inspec exec' do
       out.stderr.must_equal "This profile requires InSpec version >= 99.0.0. You are running InSpec v#{Inspec::VERSION}.\n"
     end
   end
+
+  describe 'with a profile that loads a library and reference' do
+    let(:out) { inspec('exec ' + File.join(profile_path, 'library')) }
+
+    it 'executes the profile without error' do
+      out.exit_status.must_equal 0
+    end
+  end
 end
diff --git a/test/unit/mock/profiles/library/controls/filesystem_spec.rb b/test/unit/mock/profiles/library/controls/filesystem_spec.rb
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6f3b625e6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/unit/mock/profiles/library/controls/filesystem_spec.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+# encoding: utf-8
+# copyright: 2015, Chef Software, Inc
+# license: All rights reserved
+ 
+describe gordon do
+  it { should be_enabled }
+end
diff --git a/test/unit/mock/profiles/library/inspec.yml b/test/unit/mock/profiles/library/inspec.yml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..35b69c8e8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/unit/mock/profiles/library/inspec.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+name: complete
+title: complete example profile
+maintainer: Chef Software, Inc.
+copyright: Chef Software, Inc.
+copyright_email: support@chef.io
+license: Proprietary, All rights reserved
+summary: Testing stub
+version: 1.0.0
+supports:
+- os-family: linux
diff --git a/test/unit/mock/profiles/library/libraries/gordonlib.rb b/test/unit/mock/profiles/library/libraries/gordonlib.rb
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f8df1ae16
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/unit/mock/profiles/library/libraries/gordonlib.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+module GordonLib
+end
diff --git a/test/unit/mock/profiles/library/libraries/testlib.rb b/test/unit/mock/profiles/library/libraries/testlib.rb
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..4f9e75dbe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/unit/mock/profiles/library/libraries/testlib.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+# Library resource
+
+require 'gordonlib'
+require 'hashie'
+
+class Gordon < Inspec.resource(1)
+  name 'gordon'
+  include GordonLib
+  def enabled?
+    true
+  end
+end
diff --git a/test/unit/profile_context_test.rb b/test/unit/profile_context_test.rb
index 99e7bb0cd..0569936fa 100644
--- a/test/unit/profile_context_test.rb
+++ b/test/unit/profile_context_test.rb
@@ -307,4 +307,39 @@ describe Inspec::ProfileContext do
       end
     end
   end
+
+  describe 'library loading' do
+    it 'supports simple ruby require statements' do
+      # Please note: we do discourage the use of Gems in inspec resources at
+      # this time. Resources should be well packaged whenever possible.
+      proc { profile.load('Net::POP3') }.must_raise NameError
+      profile.load_libraries([['require "net/pop"', 'libraries/a.rb']])
+      profile.load('Net::POP3').to_s.must_equal 'Net::POP3'
+    end
+
+    it 'supports loading across the library' do
+      profile.load_libraries([
+        ["require 'a'\nA", 'libraries/b.rb'],
+        ['module A; end', 'libraries/a.rb']
+      ])
+      profile.load('A').to_s.must_equal 'A'
+    end
+
+    it 'fails loading if reference error occur' do
+      proc {
+        profile.load_libraries([
+          ["require 'a'\nB", 'libraries/b.rb'],
+          ['module A; end', 'libraries/a.rb']
+        ])
+      }.must_raise NameError
+    end
+
+    it 'fails loading if a reference dependency isnt found' do
+      proc {
+        profile.load_libraries([
+          ["require 'a'\nA", 'libraries/b.rb'],
+        ])
+      }.must_raise LoadError
+    end
+  end
 end