diff --git a/conda.recipe/build.sh b/conda.recipe/build.sh
index ec09395e3..00f3111c7 100644
--- a/conda.recipe/build.sh
+++ b/conda.recipe/build.sh
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ SRC_DIR=$RECIPE_DIR/..
 pushd $SRC_DIR
 
 $PYTHON setup.py --quiet install --single-version-externally-managed --record=record.txt
+cp -r $SRC_DIR/examples $PREFIX/share/datashader-examples
 
 popd
 
diff --git a/datashader/__init__.py b/datashader/__init__.py
index c90349e1b..cfab71313 100644
--- a/datashader/__init__.py
+++ b/datashader/__init__.py
@@ -28,23 +28,20 @@ def test():
     pytest.main(os.path.dirname(__file__))
 
 
-def examples(path='.', verbose=False):
+def examples(path='datashader-examples', verbose=False):
     """
     Copies the examples to the supplied path.
     """
 
     import os, glob
-    from shutil import copyfile
-
-    path = os.path.abspath(path)
-    if not os.path.exists(path):
-        os.makedirs(path)
-        if verbose: print('Created directory %s' % path)
-        
-    notebook_glob = os.path.join(__path__[0], '..', 'examples', '*')
-    notebooks = glob.glob(notebook_glob)
-    
-    for notebook in notebooks:
-        nb_path = os.path.join(path, os.path.basename(notebook))
-        copyfile(notebook, nb_path)
-        if verbose: print("%s copied to %s" % (os.path.basename(notebook), path))
+    from shutil import copytree, ignore_patterns
+
+    candidates = [os.path.join(__path__[0], '../examples'),
+                  os.path.join(__path__[0], '../../../../share/datashader-examples')]
+
+    for source in candidates:
+        if os.path.exists(source):
+            copytree(source, path, ignore=ignore_patterns('data','.ipynb_checkpoints','*.pyc','*~'))
+            if verbose:
+                print("%s copied to %s" % (source, path))
+            break
diff --git a/examples/README.md b/examples/README.md
index cccfcdba3..f362f0b7a 100644
--- a/examples/README.md
+++ b/examples/README.md
@@ -7,9 +7,9 @@ To get a copy of the examples in your own directory so that you can
 run and edit them, you can run these commands in your terminal:
 
 ```bash
-1. mkdir ~/datashader-examples
-2. cd ~/datashader-examples
-3. python -c 'from datashader import examples ; examples()'
+1. cd ~
+2. python -c 'from datashader import examples ; examples("datashader-examples")'
+3. cd datashader-examples
 4. python download_sample_data.py
 ```