diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index b6b5ed6..2945b69 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -47,6 +47,10 @@
     </repositories>
 
     <dependencies>
+        <dependency>
+            <groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
+            <artifactId>slf4j-api</artifactId>
+        </dependency>
         <dependency>
             <groupId>junit</groupId>
             <artifactId>junit</artifactId>
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/rometools/utils/IO.java b/src/main/java/com/rometools/utils/IO.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f92f83f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/java/com/rometools/utils/IO.java
@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+package com.rometools.utils;
+
+import java.io.Closeable;
+import java.io.IOException;
+
+import org.slf4j.Logger;
+import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
+
+/**
+ * Utility class to handle I/O operations.
+ *
+ * @author Patrick Gotthard
+ *
+ */
+public final class IO {
+
+    private static final Logger LOG = LoggerFactory.getLogger(IO.class);
+
+    private IO() {
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Closes a {@link Closeable} object without suppressing a possible {@link IOException}.
+     *
+     * @param closeable The {@link Closeable} to close
+     * @throws IOException when the {@link Closeable} can't be closed
+     */
+    public static void close(final Closeable closeable) throws IOException {
+        if (closeable != null) {
+            closeable.close();
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Closes a {@link Closeable} object and suppresses a possible {@link IOException}.
+     *
+     * @param closeable The {@link Closeable} to close
+     */
+    public static void closeQuietly(final Closeable closeable) {
+        if (closeable != null) {
+            try {
+                closeable.close();
+            } catch (final IOException e) {
+                LOG.warn("Unable to close resource", e);
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+}