diff --git a/src/raw_collect/twitter.py b/src/raw_collect/twitter.py
index 9b9c518..4f5d62b 100644
--- a/src/raw_collect/twitter.py
+++ b/src/raw_collect/twitter.py
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 import json
 import math
-import os
 import random
 import time
 from dataclasses import dataclass
@@ -12,7 +11,7 @@ import pytz
 import tweepy
 from tweepy import API, TooManyRequests
 
-from raw_collect.utils import Config, debug, Posting, json_stringify, load_config
+from utils import Config, debug, Posting, json_stringify, load_config, normalize_directory
 
 
 @dataclass
@@ -225,12 +224,7 @@ def download_users_execute(api: API, n: float, base_dir: str, rate_limit: int,
     :param next_set: The next set of starting users
     :return: None
     """
-
-    # Ensure that basedir doesn't ends with /
-    if base_dir == '':
-        base_dir = '.'
-    if base_dir.endswith('/'):
-        base_dir = base_dir[:-1]
+    base_dir = normalize_directory(base_dir)
 
     # Ensure directory exists
     Path(f'{base_dir}/users').mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
diff --git a/src/raw_collect/twitter_individual.py b/src/raw_collect/twitter_individual.py
index e73e9b0..a5f3617 100644
--- a/src/raw_collect/twitter_individual.py
+++ b/src/raw_collect/twitter_individual.py
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 from raw_collect.twitter import tweepy_login, download_user_tweets
-from raw_collect.utils import *
+from utils import *
 
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
diff --git a/src/raw_collect/utils.py b/src/utils.py
similarity index 80%
rename from src/raw_collect/utils.py
rename to src/utils.py
index 9b2b7c3..f29f409 100644
--- a/src/raw_collect/utils.py
+++ b/src/utils.py
@@ -56,6 +56,28 @@ def debug(msg: object) -> None:
     print('[DEBUG] ' + str(msg))
 
 
+def normalize_directory(directory: str) -> str:
+    """
+    Normalize a directory input: Ensure that the directory doesn't end with "/", and ensure that an
+    empty directory input will be relative (".")
+
+    >>> normalize_directory('')
+    '.'
+    >>> normalize_directory('path/')
+    'path'
+    >>> normalize_directory('path')
+    'path'
+
+    :param directory: Input directory
+    :return: Normalized directory
+    """
+    if directory == '':
+        directory = '.'
+    if directory.endswith('/'):
+        directory = directory[:-1]
+    return directory
+
+
 class EnhancedJSONEncoder(json.JSONEncoder):
     def default(self, o):