diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 0e2a2f2e..4ef7a7db 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -7,13 +7,24 @@ ocropy
 
 Python-based OCR package using recurrent neural networks.
 
-To install, use:
+To install OCRopus dependencies system-wide:
 
     $ sudo apt-get install $(cat PACKAGES)
     $ wget -nd http://www.tmbdev.net/en-default.pyrnn.gz
     $ mv en-default.pyrnn.gz models/
     $ sudo python setup.py install
 
+Alternatively, dependenices can be installed into a [Python Virtual Environment]
+(http://docs.python-guide.org/en/latest/dev/virtualenvs/):
+
+    $ virtualenv ocropus_venv/
+    $ source ocropus_venv/bin/source
+    $ pip install -r requirements_1.txt
+    # tables has some dependencies which must be installed first:
+    $ pip install -r requirements_2.txt
+    $ wget -nd http://www.tmbdev.net/en-default.pyrnn.gz
+    $ mv en-default.pyrnn.gz models/
+
 To test the recognizer, run:
 
     $ ./run-test
diff --git a/ocropus-dewarp b/ocropus-dewarp
index 54d68260..0b5e6a63 100755
--- a/ocropus-dewarp
+++ b/ocropus-dewarp
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/python
+#!/usr/bin/env python
 
 import random as pyrandom
 import re
diff --git a/ocropus-econf b/ocropus-econf
index 7cd1d906..bedb84c1 100755
--- a/ocropus-econf
+++ b/ocropus-econf
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/python
+#!/usr/bin/env python
 # -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
 
 import warnings,numpy,argparse,sys,os,os.path,multiprocessing,codecs
diff --git a/ocropus-errs b/ocropus-errs
index a0934379..58146709 100755
--- a/ocropus-errs
+++ b/ocropus-errs
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/python
+#!/usr/bin/env python
 # -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
 
 import argparse,sys,os,os.path,multiprocessing
diff --git a/ocropus-gpageseg b/ocropus-gpageseg
index 9e996ff0..ce7e7d95 100755
--- a/ocropus-gpageseg
+++ b/ocropus-gpageseg
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/python
+#!/usr/bin/env python
 
 # TODO:
 # ! add option for padding
diff --git a/ocropus-gtedit b/ocropus-gtedit
index 5c67412d..b184ed8d 100755
--- a/ocropus-gtedit
+++ b/ocropus-gtedit
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/python
+#!/usr/bin/env python
 
 from pylab import *
 import argparse,codecs,re,os.path,ocrolib,base64
diff --git a/ocropus-hocr b/ocropus-hocr
index 2f9497dc..c6b7428e 100755
--- a/ocropus-hocr
+++ b/ocropus-hocr
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/python
+#!/usr/bin/env python
 
 import __builtin__ as python
 import random as pyrandom
diff --git a/ocropus-linegen b/ocropus-linegen
index e6dce9e8..aaf89d64 100755
--- a/ocropus-linegen
+++ b/ocropus-linegen
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/python
+#!/usr/bin/env python
 # vim: set fileencoding=utf8 :
 
 import random as pyrandom
diff --git a/ocropus-lpred b/ocropus-lpred
index 27e29190..d037e606 100755
--- a/ocropus-lpred
+++ b/ocropus-lpred
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/python
+#!/usr/bin/env python
 
 import random as pyrandom
 import re
diff --git a/ocropus-ltrain b/ocropus-ltrain
index 38a33658..4eb74da4 100755
--- a/ocropus-ltrain
+++ b/ocropus-ltrain
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/python
+#!/usr/bin/env python
 
 import random as pyrandom
 import re
diff --git a/ocropus-nlbin b/ocropus-nlbin
index f9c0f82c..d3213629 100755
--- a/ocropus-nlbin
+++ b/ocropus-nlbin
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/python
+#!/usr/bin/env python
 
 from pylab import *
 from numpy.ctypeslib import ndpointer
diff --git a/ocropus-rpred b/ocropus-rpred
index e3c21bba..ac2c042e 100755
--- a/ocropus-rpred
+++ b/ocropus-rpred
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/python
+#!/usr/bin/env python
 
 import traceback
 import codecs
diff --git a/ocropus-rtrain b/ocropus-rtrain
index 87db9284..e7acc0c1 100755
--- a/ocropus-rtrain
+++ b/ocropus-rtrain
@@ -1,6 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/python
-
-#import sys;sys.path.append('/home/tmb/github/ocropy/clstm')
+#!/usr/bin/env python
 
 import random as pyrandom
 import re
diff --git a/ocropus-visualize-results b/ocropus-visualize-results
index d77ceb74..fc09ed06 100755
--- a/ocropus-visualize-results
+++ b/ocropus-visualize-results
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/python
+#!/usr/bin/env python
 
 import glob
 import matplotlib
diff --git a/requirements_1.txt b/requirements_1.txt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..34102d9c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/requirements_1.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+numpy>=1.9.2
+scipy>=0.15.1
+matplotlib>=1.4.3
+beautifulsoup4>=4.3.2
+numexpr>=2.4
+Cython>=0.22
+Pillow>=2.7.0
diff --git a/requirements_2.txt b/requirements_2.txt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..7f8281bf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/requirements_2.txt
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+tables>=3.1.1