Index: System.Data.SQLite/UnsafeNativeMethods.cs
==================================================================
--- System.Data.SQLite/UnsafeNativeMethods.cs
+++ System.Data.SQLite/UnsafeNativeMethods.cs
@@ -954,11 +954,15 @@
       /// LD_LIBRARY_PATH.
       /// </summary>
       /// <param name="fileName">
       /// The file name of the native library that was successfully loaded.
       /// </param>
-      private static void MaybeUpdateLdLibraryPath(
+      /// <returns>
+      /// Non-zero if the POSIX shared library path was updated; otherwise,
+      /// zero.
+      /// </returns>
+      private static bool MaybeUpdateLdLibraryPath(
           string fileName
           )
       {
           string directory = Path.GetDirectoryName(fileName);
 
@@ -978,12 +982,15 @@
                   {
                       path = directory;
                   }
 
                   Environment.SetEnvironmentVariable(LdLibraryPath, path);
+                  return true;
               }
           }
+
+          return false;
       }
 
       /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
 
       /// <summary>
@@ -1002,11 +1009,17 @@
       {
           IntPtr nativeModuleHandle = UnsafeNativeMethodsPosix.dlopen(
               fileName, UnsafeNativeMethodsPosix.RTLD_DEFAULT);
 
           if (nativeModuleHandle != IntPtr.Zero)
-              MaybeUpdateLdLibraryPath(fileName);
+          {
+              if (MaybeUpdateLdLibraryPath(fileName))
+              {
+                  UnsafeNativeMethodsPosix.dlclose(nativeModuleHandle);
+                  nativeModuleHandle = IntPtr.Zero;
+              }
+          }
 
           return nativeModuleHandle;
       }
 #endif
       #endregion
@@ -1142,10 +1155,31 @@
           EntryPoint = "dlopen",
           CallingConvention = CallingConvention.Cdecl, CharSet = CharSet.Ansi,
           BestFitMapping = false, ThrowOnUnmappableChar = true,
           SetLastError = true)]
       internal static extern IntPtr dlopen(string fileName, int mode);
+
+      /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+      /// <summary>
+      /// This is the P/Invoke method that wraps the native Unix dlclose
+      /// function.  See the POSIX documentation for full details on what it
+      /// does.
+      /// </summary>
+      /// <param name="module">
+      /// The handle to the loaded native library.
+      /// </param>
+      /// <returns>
+      /// Zero upon success -OR- non-zero on failure.
+      /// </returns>
+#if NET_STANDARD_20
+      [DllImport("libdl",
+#else
+      [DllImport("__Internal",
+#endif
+          EntryPoint = "dlclose",
+          CallingConvention = CallingConvention.Cdecl, SetLastError = true)]
+      internal static extern int dlclose(IntPtr module);
 
       /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
 
       #region Private Constants
       /// <summary>