diff --git a/Doc/library/importlib.rst b/Doc/library/importlib.rst
index a612b1e..99bfeac 100644
--- a/Doc/library/importlib.rst
+++ b/Doc/library/importlib.rst
@@ -480,6 +480,8 @@
 
 .. class:: ResourceReader
 
+    *Superseded by TraversableReader*
+
     An :term:`abstract base class` to provide the ability to read
     *resources*.
 
@@ -795,6 +797,28 @@
         itself does not end in ``__init__``.
 
 
+.. class:: Traversable
+
+    An object with a subset of pathlib.Path methods suitable for
+    traversing directories and opening files.
+
+    .. versionadded:: 3.9
+
+
+.. class:: TraversableReader
+
+    An abstract base class for resource readers capable of serving
+    the ``files`` interface. Subclasses ResourceReader and provides
+    concrete implementations of the ResourceReader's abstract
+    methods. Therefore, any loader supplying TraversableReader
+    also supplies ResourceReader.
+
+    Loaders that wish to support resource reading are expected to
+    implement this interface.
+
+    .. versionadded:: 3.9
+
+
 :mod:`importlib.resources` -- Resources
 ---------------------------------------
 
@@ -853,6 +877,19 @@
 
 The following functions are available.
 
+
+.. function:: files(package)
+
+    Returns an :class:`importlib.resources.abc.Traversable` object
+    representing the resource container for the package (think directory)
+    and its resources (think files). A Traversable may contain other
+    containers (think subdirectories).
+
+    *package* is either a name or a module object which conforms to the
+    ``Package`` requirements.
+
+    .. versionadded:: 3.9
+
 .. function:: open_binary(package, resource)
 
     Open for binary reading the *resource* within *package*.
diff --git a/Lib/importlib/_common.py b/Lib/importlib/_common.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ba7cbac
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Lib/importlib/_common.py
@@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
+import os
+import pathlib
+import zipfile
+import tempfile
+import functools
+import contextlib
+
+
+def from_package(package):
+    """
+    Return a Traversable object for the given package.
+
+    """
+    spec = package.__spec__
+    return from_traversable_resources(spec) or fallback_resources(spec)
+
+
+def from_traversable_resources(spec):
+    """
+    If the spec.loader implements TraversableResources,
+    directly or implicitly, it will have a ``files()`` method.
+    """
+    with contextlib.suppress(AttributeError):
+        return spec.loader.files()
+
+
+def fallback_resources(spec):
+    package_directory = pathlib.Path(spec.origin).parent
+    try:
+        archive_path = spec.loader.archive
+        rel_path = package_directory.relative_to(archive_path)
+        return zipfile.Path(archive_path, str(rel_path) + '/')
+    except Exception:
+        pass
+    return package_directory
+
+
+@contextlib.contextmanager
+def _tempfile(reader, suffix=''):
+    # Not using tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile as it leads to deeper 'try'
+    # blocks due to the need to close the temporary file to work on Windows
+    # properly.
+    fd, raw_path = tempfile.mkstemp(suffix=suffix)
+    try:
+        os.write(fd, reader())
+        os.close(fd)
+        yield pathlib.Path(raw_path)
+    finally:
+        try:
+            os.remove(raw_path)
+        except FileNotFoundError:
+            pass
+
+
+@functools.singledispatch
+@contextlib.contextmanager
+def as_file(path):
+    """
+    Given a Traversable object, return that object as a
+    path on the local file system in a context manager.
+    """
+    with _tempfile(path.read_bytes, suffix=path.name) as local:
+        yield local
+
+
+@as_file.register(pathlib.Path)
+@contextlib.contextmanager
+def _(path):
+    """
+    Degenerate behavior for pathlib.Path objects.
+    """
+    yield path
diff --git a/Lib/importlib/abc.py b/Lib/importlib/abc.py
index b1b5ccc..b8a9bb1 100644
--- a/Lib/importlib/abc.py
+++ b/Lib/importlib/abc.py
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
     _frozen_importlib_external = _bootstrap_external
 import abc
 import warnings
+from typing import Protocol, runtime_checkable
 
 
 def _register(abstract_cls, *classes):
@@ -386,3 +387,88 @@
 
 
 _register(ResourceReader, machinery.SourceFileLoader)
+
+
+@runtime_checkable
+class Traversable(Protocol):
+    """
+    An object with a subset of pathlib.Path methods suitable for
+    traversing directories and opening files.
+    """
+
+    @abc.abstractmethod
+    def iterdir(self):
+        """
+        Yield Traversable objects in self
+        """
+
+    @abc.abstractmethod
+    def read_bytes(self):
+        """
+        Read contents of self as bytes
+        """
+
+    @abc.abstractmethod
+    def read_text(self, encoding=None):
+        """
+        Read contents of self as bytes
+        """
+
+    @abc.abstractmethod
+    def is_dir(self):
+        """
+        Return True if self is a dir
+        """
+
+    @abc.abstractmethod
+    def is_file(self):
+        """
+        Return True if self is a file
+        """
+
+    @abc.abstractmethod
+    def joinpath(self, child):
+        """
+        Return Traversable child in self
+        """
+
+    @abc.abstractmethod
+    def __truediv__(self, child):
+        """
+        Return Traversable child in self
+        """
+
+    @abc.abstractmethod
+    def open(self, mode='r', *args, **kwargs):
+        """
+        mode may be 'r' or 'rb' to open as text or binary. Return a handle
+        suitable for reading (same as pathlib.Path.open).
+
+        When opening as text, accepts encoding parameters such as those
+        accepted by io.TextIOWrapper.
+        """
+
+    @abc.abstractproperty
+    def name(self):
+        # type: () -> str
+        """
+        The base name of this object without any parent references.
+        """
+
+
+class TraversableResources(ResourceReader):
+    @abc.abstractmethod
+    def files(self):
+        """Return a Traversable object for the loaded package."""
+
+    def open_resource(self, resource):
+        return self.files().joinpath(resource).open('rb')
+
+    def resource_path(self, resource):
+        raise FileNotFoundError(resource)
+
+    def is_resource(self, path):
+        return self.files().joinpath(path).isfile()
+
+    def contents(self):
+        return (item.name for item in self.files().iterdir())
diff --git a/Lib/importlib/resources.py b/Lib/importlib/resources.py
index f518865..b803a01 100644
--- a/Lib/importlib/resources.py
+++ b/Lib/importlib/resources.py
@@ -1,14 +1,15 @@
 import os
-import tempfile
 
 from . import abc as resources_abc
+from . import _common
+from ._common import as_file
 from contextlib import contextmanager, suppress
 from importlib import import_module
 from importlib.abc import ResourceLoader
 from io import BytesIO, TextIOWrapper
 from pathlib import Path
 from types import ModuleType
-from typing import Iterable, Iterator, Optional, Union   # noqa: F401
+from typing import ContextManager, Iterable, Optional, Union
 from typing import cast
 from typing.io import BinaryIO, TextIO
 
@@ -16,7 +17,9 @@
 __all__ = [
     'Package',
     'Resource',
+    'as_file',
     'contents',
+    'files',
     'is_resource',
     'open_binary',
     'open_text',
@@ -30,24 +33,23 @@
 Resource = Union[str, os.PathLike]
 
 
+def _resolve(name) -> ModuleType:
+    """If name is a string, resolve to a module."""
+    if hasattr(name, '__spec__'):
+        return name
+    return import_module(name)
+
+
 def _get_package(package) -> ModuleType:
     """Take a package name or module object and return the module.
 
-    If a name, the module is imported.  If the passed or imported module
+    If a name, the module is imported.  If the resolved module
     object is not a package, raise an exception.
     """
-    if hasattr(package, '__spec__'):
-        if package.__spec__.submodule_search_locations is None:
-            raise TypeError('{!r} is not a package'.format(
-                package.__spec__.name))
-        else:
-            return package
-    else:
-        module = import_module(package)
-        if module.__spec__.submodule_search_locations is None:
-            raise TypeError('{!r} is not a package'.format(package))
-        else:
-            return module
+    module = _resolve(package)
+    if module.__spec__.submodule_search_locations is None:
+        raise TypeError('{!r} is not a package'.format(package))
+    return module
 
 
 def _normalize_path(path) -> str:
@@ -58,8 +60,7 @@
     parent, file_name = os.path.split(path)
     if parent:
         raise ValueError('{!r} must be only a file name'.format(path))
-    else:
-        return file_name
+    return file_name
 
 
 def _get_resource_reader(
@@ -88,8 +89,8 @@
     reader = _get_resource_reader(package)
     if reader is not None:
         return reader.open_resource(resource)
-    _check_location(package)
-    absolute_package_path = os.path.abspath(package.__spec__.origin)
+    absolute_package_path = os.path.abspath(
+        package.__spec__.origin or 'non-existent file')
     package_path = os.path.dirname(absolute_package_path)
     full_path = os.path.join(package_path, resource)
     try:
@@ -108,8 +109,7 @@
             message = '{!r} resource not found in {!r}'.format(
                 resource, package_name)
             raise FileNotFoundError(message)
-        else:
-            return BytesIO(data)
+        return BytesIO(data)
 
 
 def open_text(package: Package,
@@ -117,39 +117,12 @@
               encoding: str = 'utf-8',
               errors: str = 'strict') -> TextIO:
     """Return a file-like object opened for text reading of the resource."""
-    resource = _normalize_path(resource)
-    package = _get_package(package)
-    reader = _get_resource_reader(package)
-    if reader is not None:
-        return TextIOWrapper(reader.open_resource(resource), encoding, errors)
-    _check_location(package)
-    absolute_package_path = os.path.abspath(package.__spec__.origin)
-    package_path = os.path.dirname(absolute_package_path)
-    full_path = os.path.join(package_path, resource)
-    try:
-        return open(full_path, mode='r', encoding=encoding, errors=errors)
-    except OSError:
-        # Just assume the loader is a resource loader; all the relevant
-        # importlib.machinery loaders are and an AttributeError for
-        # get_data() will make it clear what is needed from the loader.
-        loader = cast(ResourceLoader, package.__spec__.loader)
-        data = None
-        if hasattr(package.__spec__.loader, 'get_data'):
-            with suppress(OSError):
-                data = loader.get_data(full_path)
-        if data is None:
-            package_name = package.__spec__.name
-            message = '{!r} resource not found in {!r}'.format(
-                resource, package_name)
-            raise FileNotFoundError(message)
-        else:
-            return TextIOWrapper(BytesIO(data), encoding, errors)
+    return TextIOWrapper(
+        open_binary(package, resource), encoding=encoding, errors=errors)
 
 
 def read_binary(package: Package, resource: Resource) -> bytes:
     """Return the binary contents of the resource."""
-    resource = _normalize_path(resource)
-    package = _get_package(package)
     with open_binary(package, resource) as fp:
         return fp.read()
 
@@ -163,14 +136,20 @@
     The decoding-related arguments have the same semantics as those of
     bytes.decode().
     """
-    resource = _normalize_path(resource)
-    package = _get_package(package)
     with open_text(package, resource, encoding, errors) as fp:
         return fp.read()
 
 
-@contextmanager
-def path(package: Package, resource: Resource) -> Iterator[Path]:
+def files(package: Package) -> resources_abc.Traversable:
+    """
+    Get a Traversable resource from a package
+    """
+    return _common.from_package(_get_package(package))
+
+
+def path(
+        package: Package, resource: Resource,
+        ) -> 'ContextManager[Path]':
     """A context manager providing a file path object to the resource.
 
     If the resource does not already exist on its own on the file system,
@@ -179,39 +158,23 @@
     raised if the file was deleted prior to the context manager
     exiting).
     """
-    resource = _normalize_path(resource)
-    package = _get_package(package)
-    reader = _get_resource_reader(package)
-    if reader is not None:
-        try:
-            yield Path(reader.resource_path(resource))
-            return
-        except FileNotFoundError:
-            pass
-    else:
-        _check_location(package)
-    # Fall-through for both the lack of resource_path() *and* if
-    # resource_path() raises FileNotFoundError.
-    package_directory = Path(package.__spec__.origin).parent
-    file_path = package_directory / resource
-    if file_path.exists():
-        yield file_path
-    else:
-        with open_binary(package, resource) as fp:
-            data = fp.read()
-        # Not using tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile as it leads to deeper 'try'
-        # blocks due to the need to close the temporary file to work on
-        # Windows properly.
-        fd, raw_path = tempfile.mkstemp()
-        try:
-            os.write(fd, data)
-            os.close(fd)
-            yield Path(raw_path)
-        finally:
-            try:
-                os.remove(raw_path)
-            except FileNotFoundError:
-                pass
+    reader = _get_resource_reader(_get_package(package))
+    return (
+        _path_from_reader(reader, resource)
+        if reader else
+        _common.as_file(files(package).joinpath(_normalize_path(resource)))
+        )
+
+
+@contextmanager
+def _path_from_reader(reader, resource):
+    norm_resource = _normalize_path(resource)
+    with suppress(FileNotFoundError):
+        yield Path(reader.resource_path(norm_resource))
+        return
+    opener_reader = reader.open_resource(norm_resource)
+    with _common._tempfile(opener_reader.read, suffix=norm_resource) as res:
+        yield res
 
 
 def is_resource(package: Package, name: str) -> bool:
@@ -224,17 +187,10 @@
     reader = _get_resource_reader(package)
     if reader is not None:
         return reader.is_resource(name)
-    try:
-        package_contents = set(contents(package))
-    except (NotADirectoryError, FileNotFoundError):
-        return False
+    package_contents = set(contents(package))
     if name not in package_contents:
         return False
-    # Just because the given file_name lives as an entry in the package's
-    # contents doesn't necessarily mean it's a resource.  Directories are not
-    # resources, so let's try to find out if it's a directory or not.
-    path = Path(package.__spec__.origin).parent / name
-    return path.is_file()
+    return (_common.from_package(package) / name).is_file()
 
 
 def contents(package: Package) -> Iterable[str]:
@@ -249,10 +205,11 @@
     if reader is not None:
         return reader.contents()
     # Is the package a namespace package?  By definition, namespace packages
-    # cannot have resources.  We could use _check_location() and catch the
-    # exception, but that's extra work, so just inline the check.
-    elif package.__spec__.origin is None or not package.__spec__.has_location:
+    # cannot have resources.
+    namespace = (
+        package.__spec__.origin is None or
+        package.__spec__.origin == 'namespace'
+        )
+    if namespace or not package.__spec__.has_location:
         return ()
-    else:
-        package_directory = Path(package.__spec__.origin).parent
-        return os.listdir(package_directory)
+    return list(item.name for item in _common.from_package(package).iterdir())
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_importlib/test_files.py b/Lib/test/test_importlib/test_files.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fa7af82
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Lib/test/test_importlib/test_files.py
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+import typing
+import unittest
+
+from importlib import resources
+from importlib.abc import Traversable
+from . import data01
+from . import util
+
+
+class FilesTests:
+    def test_read_bytes(self):
+        files = resources.files(self.data)
+        actual = files.joinpath('utf-8.file').read_bytes()
+        assert actual == b'Hello, UTF-8 world!\n'
+
+    def test_read_text(self):
+        files = resources.files(self.data)
+        actual = files.joinpath('utf-8.file').read_text()
+        assert actual == 'Hello, UTF-8 world!\n'
+
+    @unittest.skipUnless(
+        hasattr(typing, 'runtime_checkable'),
+        "Only suitable when typing supports runtime_checkable",
+        )
+    def test_traversable(self):
+        assert isinstance(resources.files(self.data), Traversable)
+
+
+class OpenDiskTests(FilesTests, unittest.TestCase):
+    def setUp(self):
+        self.data = data01
+
+
+class OpenZipTests(FilesTests, util.ZipSetup, unittest.TestCase):
+    pass
+
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    unittest.main()
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_importlib/test_path.py b/Lib/test/test_importlib/test_path.py
index 2d3dcda..c4e7285 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_importlib/test_path.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_importlib/test_path.py
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
         # Test also implicitly verifies the returned object is a pathlib.Path
         # instance.
         with resources.path(self.data, 'utf-8.file') as path:
+            self.assertTrue(path.name.endswith("utf-8.file"), repr(path))
             # pathlib.Path.read_text() was introduced in Python 3.5.
             with path.open('r', encoding='utf-8') as file:
                 text = file.read()
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2020-04-27-00-51-40.bpo-39791.wv8Dxn.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2020-04-27-00-51-40.bpo-39791.wv8Dxn.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..237bcf7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2020-04-27-00-51-40.bpo-39791.wv8Dxn.rst
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Added ``files()`` function to importlib.resources with support for subdirectories in package data, matching backport in importlib_resources 1.5.
\ No newline at end of file