diff --git a/jbrowse_jupyter/data/__init__.py b/jbrowse_jupyter/data/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e69de29
diff --git a/jbrowse_jupyter/hg19.json b/jbrowse_jupyter/data/hg19.json
similarity index 100%
rename from jbrowse_jupyter/hg19.json
rename to jbrowse_jupyter/data/hg19.json
diff --git a/jbrowse_jupyter/hg19_cgv.json b/jbrowse_jupyter/data/hg19_cgv.json
similarity index 100%
rename from jbrowse_jupyter/hg19_cgv.json
rename to jbrowse_jupyter/data/hg19_cgv.json
diff --git a/jbrowse_jupyter/hg38.json b/jbrowse_jupyter/data/hg38.json
similarity index 100%
rename from jbrowse_jupyter/hg38.json
rename to jbrowse_jupyter/data/hg38.json
diff --git a/jbrowse_jupyter/hg38_cgv.json b/jbrowse_jupyter/data/hg38_cgv.json
similarity index 100%
rename from jbrowse_jupyter/hg38_cgv.json
rename to jbrowse_jupyter/data/hg38_cgv.json
diff --git a/jbrowse_jupyter/util.py b/jbrowse_jupyter/util.py
index 55a25a7..49e888c 100644
--- a/jbrowse_jupyter/util.py
+++ b/jbrowse_jupyter/util.py
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
 import re
 import os
 import json
-import pkg_resources
+from importlib_resources import files
+
 import dash_jbrowse as jb
 from dash import html, Dash
 from urllib.parse import urlparse
@@ -55,14 +56,12 @@ def get_name_regex(assembly_file):
 
 def get_default(name, view_type="LGV"):
     """Returns the configuration object given a genome name."""
-    base = pkg_resources.resource_filename("jbrowse_jupyter")
-    file_name = f"{base}/{name}.json"
+    base = pkg_resources.resource_filename("jbrowse_jupyter", "data")
+    # Reads contents with UTF-8 encoding and returns str.
     if view_type == "CGV":
-        file_name = f"{base}/{name}_cgv.json"
-    conf = {}
-    with open(file_name) as json_data:
-        conf = json.load(json_data)
-    return conf
+        return files(f"jbrowse_jupyter.data.${name}_cgv.json").read_json()
+    else:
+        return files(f"jbrowse_jupyter.data.${name}.json").read_json()
 
 
 def create_component(conf, **kwargs):