diff --git a/django/template/base.py b/django/template/base.py
index 40a577dbd8..e23420b828 100644
--- a/django/template/base.py
+++ b/django/template/base.py
@@ -1215,6 +1215,22 @@ class Library(object):
             return func
         return dec
 
+def is_library_missing(name):
+    """Check if library that failed to load cannot be found under any
+    templatetags directory or does exist but fails to import.
+
+    Non-existing condition is checked recursively for each subpackage in cases
+    like <appdir>/templatetags/subpackage/package/module.py.
+    """
+    # Don't bother to check if '.' is in name since any name will be prefixed
+    # with some template root.
+    path, module = name.rsplit('.', 1)
+    try:
+        package = import_module(path)
+        return not module_has_submodule(package, module)
+    except ImportError:
+        return is_library_missing(path)
+
 def import_library(taglib_module):
     """
     Load a template tag library module.
@@ -1222,8 +1238,6 @@ def import_library(taglib_module):
     Verifies that the library contains a 'register' attribute, and
     returns that attribute as the representation of the library
     """
-    app_path, taglib = taglib_module.rsplit('.', 1)
-    app_module = import_module(app_path)
     try:
         mod = import_module(taglib_module)
     except ImportError, e:
@@ -1231,7 +1245,7 @@ def import_library(taglib_module):
         # that's not an error that should be raised. If the submodule exists
         # and raised an ImportError on the attempt to load it, that we want
         # to raise.
-        if not module_has_submodule(app_module, taglib):
+        if is_library_missing(taglib_module):
             return None
         else:
             raise InvalidTemplateLibrary("ImportError raised loading %s: %s" %
diff --git a/docs/ref/templates/builtins.txt b/docs/ref/templates/builtins.txt
index 20cce0093d..757629f47e 100644
--- a/docs/ref/templates/builtins.txt
+++ b/docs/ref/templates/builtins.txt
@@ -698,9 +698,10 @@ load
 Loads a custom template tag set.
 
 For example, the following template would load all the tags and filters
-registered in ``somelibrary`` and ``otherlibrary``::
+registered in ``somelibrary`` and ``otherlibrary`` located in package
+``package``::
 
-    {% load somelibrary otherlibrary %}
+    {% load somelibrary package.otherlibrary %}
 
 .. versionchanged:: 1.3
 
diff --git a/tests/regressiontests/templates/templatetags/subpackage/__init__.py b/tests/regressiontests/templates/templatetags/subpackage/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e69de29bb2
diff --git a/tests/regressiontests/templates/templatetags/subpackage/echo.py b/tests/regressiontests/templates/templatetags/subpackage/echo.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..0e4e862887
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/regressiontests/templates/templatetags/subpackage/echo.py
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+from django import template
+
+register = template.Library()
+
+@register.simple_tag
+def echo2(arg):
+    return arg
diff --git a/tests/regressiontests/templates/templatetags/subpackage/echo_invalid.py b/tests/regressiontests/templates/templatetags/subpackage/echo_invalid.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..c12ea65507
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/regressiontests/templates/templatetags/subpackage/echo_invalid.py
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+import nonexistent.module
diff --git a/tests/regressiontests/templates/tests.py b/tests/regressiontests/templates/tests.py
index 712093b934..e2743581ae 100644
--- a/tests/regressiontests/templates/tests.py
+++ b/tests/regressiontests/templates/tests.py
@@ -1193,17 +1193,22 @@ class Templates(unittest.TestCase):
             'inheritance41': ("{% extends 'inheritance36' %}{% block opt %}new{{ block.super }}{% endblock %}", {'numbers': '123'}, '_new1_new2_new3_'),
 
             ### LOADING TAG LIBRARIES #################################################
+            'load01': ("{% load testtags subpackage.echo %}{% echo test %} {% echo2 \"test\" %}", {}, "test test"),
+            'load02': ("{% load subpackage.echo %}{% echo2 \"test\" %}", {}, "test"),
 
             # {% load %} tag, importing individual tags
-            'load1': ("{% load echo from testtags %}{% echo this that theother %}", {}, 'this that theother'),
-            'load2': ("{% load echo other_echo from testtags %}{% echo this that theother %} {% other_echo and another thing %}", {}, 'this that theother and another thing'),
-            'load3': ("{% load echo upper from testtags %}{% echo this that theother %} {{ statement|upper }}", {'statement': 'not shouting'}, 'this that theother NOT SHOUTING'),
+            'load03': ("{% load echo from testtags %}{% echo this that theother %}", {}, 'this that theother'),
+            'load04': ("{% load echo other_echo from testtags %}{% echo this that theother %} {% other_echo and another thing %}", {}, 'this that theother and another thing'),
+            'load05': ("{% load echo upper from testtags %}{% echo this that theother %} {{ statement|upper }}", {'statement': 'not shouting'}, 'this that theother NOT SHOUTING'),
+            'load06': ("{% load echo2 from subpackage.echo %}{% echo2 \"test\" %}", {}, "test"),
 
             # {% load %} tag errors
-            'load4': ("{% load echo other_echo bad_tag from testtags %}", {}, template.TemplateSyntaxError),
-            'load5': ("{% load echo other_echo bad_tag from %}", {}, template.TemplateSyntaxError),
-            'load6': ("{% load from testtags %}", {}, template.TemplateSyntaxError),
-            'load7': ("{% load echo from bad_library %}", {}, template.TemplateSyntaxError),
+            'load07': ("{% load echo other_echo bad_tag from testtags %}", {}, template.TemplateSyntaxError),
+            'load08': ("{% load echo other_echo bad_tag from %}", {}, template.TemplateSyntaxError),
+            'load09': ("{% load from testtags %}", {}, template.TemplateSyntaxError),
+            'load10': ("{% load echo from bad_library %}", {}, template.TemplateSyntaxError),
+            'load11': ("{% load subpackage.echo_invalid %}", {}, template.TemplateSyntaxError),
+            'load12': ("{% load subpackage.missing %}", {}, template.TemplateSyntaxError),
 
             ### I18N ##################################################################