diff --git a/.env b/.env
index b259374..a7ba0d9 100644
--- a/.env
+++ b/.env
@@ -17,6 +17,11 @@ DOCKER_NETWORK_NAME=jupyterhub-network
 # Single-user Jupyter Notebook server container image
 DOCKER_NOTEBOOK_IMAGE=jupyter/scipy-notebook:2d878db5cbff
 
+# Notebook directory in the container.
+# This will be /home/jovyan/work if the default
+# This directory is stored as a docker volume for each user
+DOCKER_NOTEBOOK_DIR=/home/jovyan/work
+
 # Docker run command to use when spawning single-user containers
 DOCKER_SPAWN_CMD=start-singleuser.sh
 
diff --git a/jupyterhub_config.py b/jupyterhub_config.py
index 982d843..026698a 100644
--- a/jupyterhub_config.py
+++ b/jupyterhub_config.py
@@ -32,10 +32,11 @@ c.DockerSpawner.extra_start_kwargs = { 'network_mode': network_name }
 # it.  Most jupyter/docker-stacks *-notebook images run the Notebook server as
 # user `jovyan`, and set the notebook directory to `/home/jovyan/work`.
 # We follow the same convention.
-c.DockerSpawner.notebook_dir = '/home/jovyan/work'
+notebook_dir = os.environ.get('DOCKER_NOTEBOOK_DIR') or '/home/jovyan/work'
+c.DockerSpawner.notebook_dir = notebook_dir
 # Mount the real user's Docker volume on the host to the notebook user's
 # notebook directory in the container
-c.DockerSpawner.volumes = { '{username}': '/home/jovyan/work' }
+c.DockerSpawner.volumes = { 'jupyterhub-user-{username}': notebook_dir }
 c.DockerSpawner.extra_create_kwargs.update({ 'volume_driver': 'local' })
 # Remove containers once they are stopped
 c.DockerSpawner.remove_containers = True