diff --git a/java/src/main/java/ai/onnxruntime/OrtSession.java b/java/src/main/java/ai/onnxruntime/OrtSession.java
index 536fd99598..3191e0b2e2 100644
--- a/java/src/main/java/ai/onnxruntime/OrtSession.java
+++ b/java/src/main/java/ai/onnxruntime/OrtSession.java
@@ -517,6 +517,14 @@ public class OrtSession implements AutoCloseable {
       }
     }
 
+    static {
+      try {
+        OnnxRuntime.init();
+      } catch (IOException e) {
+        throw new RuntimeException("Failed to load onnx-runtime library", e);
+      }
+    }
+
     private final long nativeHandle;
 
     private final List<Long> customLibraryHandles;
@@ -1164,6 +1172,14 @@ public class OrtSession implements AutoCloseable {
   /** Used to control logging and termination of a call to {@link OrtSession#run}. */
   public static class RunOptions implements AutoCloseable {
 
+    static {
+      try {
+        OnnxRuntime.init();
+      } catch (IOException e) {
+        throw new RuntimeException("Failed to load onnx-runtime library", e);
+      }
+    }
+
     private final long nativeHandle;
 
     private boolean closed = false;