diff --git a/ci/scripts/docs_build.sh b/ci/scripts/docs_build.sh
index 0b268b1acc..261786b99a 100755
--- a/ci/scripts/docs_build.sh
+++ b/ci/scripts/docs_build.sh
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ main() {
       # Only build R documentation for installed packages (e.g., so that
       # Python's documentation build can run without installing the R
       # packages). Packages are installed in ci/scripts/r_build.sh
-      if Rscript -e "requireNamespace('$pkg')"; then
+      if Rscript -e "loadNamespace('$pkg_name')" ; then
         R -e "pkgdown::build_site_github_pages(pkg = '$pkg', dest_dir = '$source_dir/docs/build/html/r/$pkg_name')"
       fi
     done