diff --git a/Source/SWXMLHash.swift b/Source/SWXMLHash.swift
index 719e5a2a..f242a804 100644
--- a/Source/SWXMLHash.swift
+++ b/Source/SWXMLHash.swift
@@ -50,6 +50,9 @@ public class SWXMLHashOptions {
 
     /// Encoding used for XML parsing. Default is set to UTF8
     public var encoding = String.Encoding.utf8
+
+    /// Any contextual information set by the user for encoding
+    public var userInfo = [CodingUserInfoKey: Any]()
 }
 
 /// Simple XML parser
@@ -250,12 +253,12 @@ extension XMLParserDelegate {
 /// The implementation of XMLParserDelegate and where the lazy parsing actually happens.
 class LazyXMLParser: NSObject, SimpleXmlParser, XMLParserDelegate {
     required init(_ options: SWXMLHashOptions) {
+        root = XMLElement(name: rootElementName, options: options)
         self.options = options
-        self.root.caseInsensitive = options.caseInsensitive
         super.init()
     }
 
-    var root = XMLElement(name: rootElementName, caseInsensitive: false)
+    let root: XMLElement
     var parentStack = Stack<XMLElement>()
     var elementStack = Stack<String>()
 
@@ -272,7 +275,6 @@ class LazyXMLParser: NSObject, SimpleXmlParser, XMLParserDelegate {
         // clear any prior runs of parse... expected that this won't be necessary,
         // but you never know
         parentStack.removeAll()
-        root = XMLElement(name: rootElementName, caseInsensitive: options.caseInsensitive)
         parentStack.push(root)
 
         self.ops = ops
@@ -338,12 +340,12 @@ class LazyXMLParser: NSObject, SimpleXmlParser, XMLParserDelegate {
 /// The implementation of XMLParserDelegate and where the parsing actually happens.
 class FullXMLParser: NSObject, SimpleXmlParser, XMLParserDelegate {
     required init(_ options: SWXMLHashOptions) {
+        root = XMLElement(name: rootElementName, options: options)
         self.options = options
-        self.root.caseInsensitive = options.caseInsensitive
         super.init()
     }
 
-    var root = XMLElement(name: rootElementName, caseInsensitive: false)
+    let root: XMLElement
     var parentStack = Stack<XMLElement>()
     let options: SWXMLHashOptions
 
@@ -556,6 +558,15 @@ public enum XMLIndexer {
         return list
     }
 
+    public var userInfo: [CodingUserInfoKey: Any] {
+        switch self {
+        case .element(let elem):
+            return elem.userInfo
+        default:
+            return [:]
+        }
+    }
+
     /**
     Allows for element lookup by matching attribute values.
 
@@ -775,11 +786,19 @@ public class XMLElement: XMLContent {
     /// The name of the element
     public let name: String
 
-    public var caseInsensitive: Bool
+    /// Whether the element is case insensitive or not
+    public var caseInsensitive: Bool {
+        return options.caseInsensitive
+    }
+
+    var userInfo: [CodingUserInfoKey: Any] {
+        return options.userInfo
+    }
 
     /// All attributes
     public var allAttributes = [String: XMLAttribute]()
 
+    /// Find an attribute by name
     public func attribute(by name: String) -> XMLAttribute? {
         if caseInsensitive {
             return allAttributes.first(where: { $0.key.compare(name, true) })?.value
@@ -813,8 +832,10 @@ public class XMLElement: XMLContent {
 
     /// All child elements (text or XML)
     public var children = [XMLContent]()
+
     var count: Int = 0
     var index: Int
+    let options: SWXMLHashOptions
 
     var xmlChildren: [XMLElement] {
         return children.flatMap { $0 as? XMLElement }
@@ -827,10 +848,10 @@ public class XMLElement: XMLContent {
         - name: The name of the element to be initialized
         - index: The index of the element to be initialized
     */
-    init(name: String, index: Int = 0, caseInsensitive: Bool) {
+    init(name: String, index: Int = 0, options: SWXMLHashOptions) {
         self.name = name
-        self.caseInsensitive = caseInsensitive
         self.index = index
+        self.options = options
     }
 
     /**
@@ -843,7 +864,7 @@ public class XMLElement: XMLContent {
     */
 
     func addElement(_ name: String, withAttributes attributes: [String: String], caseInsensitive: Bool) -> XMLElement {
-        let element = XMLElement(name: name, index: count, caseInsensitive: caseInsensitive)
+        let element = XMLElement(name: name, index: count, options: options)
         count += 1
 
         children.append(element)
diff --git a/Tests/SWXMLHashTests/LazyTypesConversionTests.swift b/Tests/SWXMLHashTests/LazyTypesConversionTests.swift
index d1345d25..03a6a731 100644
--- a/Tests/SWXMLHashTests/LazyTypesConversionTests.swift
+++ b/Tests/SWXMLHashTests/LazyTypesConversionTests.swift
@@ -66,13 +66,28 @@ class LazyTypesConversionTests: XCTestCase {
             XCTFail("\(error)")
         }
     }
+
+    func testShouldBeAbleToGetUserInfoDuringDeserialization() {
+        parser = SWXMLHash.config { config in
+            let options = SampleUserInfo(apiVersion: .v1)
+            config.userInfo = [ SampleUserInfo.key: options ]
+        }.parse(xmlWithBasicTypes)
+
+        do {
+            let value: BasicItem = try parser!["root"]["basicItem"].value()
+            XCTAssertEqual(value.name, "the name of basic item (v1)")
+        } catch {
+            XCTFail("\(error)")
+        }
+    }
 }
 
 extension LazyTypesConversionTests {
     static var allTests: [(String, (LazyTypesConversionTests) -> () throws -> Void)] {
         return [
             ("testShouldConvertValueToNonOptional", testShouldConvertValueToNonOptional),
-            ("testShouldConvertAttributeToNonOptional", testShouldConvertAttributeToNonOptional)
+            ("testShouldConvertAttributeToNonOptional", testShouldConvertAttributeToNonOptional),
+            ("testShouldBeAbleToGetUserInfoDuringDeserialization", testShouldBeAbleToGetUserInfoDuringDeserialization)
         ]
     }
 }
diff --git a/Tests/SWXMLHashTests/TypeConversionBasicTypesTests.swift b/Tests/SWXMLHashTests/TypeConversionBasicTypesTests.swift
index 79f90b44..533db8d9 100644
--- a/Tests/SWXMLHashTests/TypeConversionBasicTypesTests.swift
+++ b/Tests/SWXMLHashTests/TypeConversionBasicTypesTests.swift
@@ -31,6 +31,29 @@ import XCTest
 // swiftlint:disable line_length
 // swiftlint:disable type_body_length
 
+struct SampleUserInfo {
+    enum ApiVersion {
+        case v1
+        case v2
+    }
+
+    var apiVersion = ApiVersion.v2
+
+    func suffix() -> String {
+        if apiVersion == ApiVersion.v1 {
+            return " (v1)"
+        } else {
+            return ""
+        }
+    }
+
+    static let key = CodingUserInfoKey(rawValue: "test")!
+
+    init(apiVersion: ApiVersion) {
+        self.apiVersion = apiVersion
+    }
+}
+
 class TypeConversionBasicTypesTests: XCTestCase {
     var parser: XMLIndexer?
     let xmlWithBasicTypes = """
@@ -524,6 +547,20 @@ class TypeConversionBasicTypesTests: XCTestCase {
             XCTFail("\(error)")
         }
     }
+
+    func testShouldBeAbleToGetUserInfoDuringDeserialization() {
+        parser = SWXMLHash.config { config in
+            let options = SampleUserInfo(apiVersion: .v1)
+            config.userInfo = [ SampleUserInfo.key: options ]
+        }.parse(xmlWithBasicTypes)
+
+        do {
+            let value: BasicItem = try parser!["root"]["basicItem"].value()
+            XCTAssertEqual(value.name, "the name of basic item (v1)")
+        } catch {
+            XCTFail("\(error)")
+        }
+    }
 }
 
 struct BasicItem: XMLIndexerDeserializable {
@@ -531,8 +568,14 @@ struct BasicItem: XMLIndexerDeserializable {
     let price: Double
 
     static func deserialize(_ node: XMLIndexer) throws -> BasicItem {
+        var name: String = try node["name"].value()
+
+        if let opts = node.userInfo[SampleUserInfo.key] as? SampleUserInfo {
+            name += opts.suffix()
+        }
+
         return try BasicItem(
-            name: node["name"].value(),
+            name: name,
             price: node["price"].value()
         )
     }
@@ -618,7 +661,8 @@ extension TypeConversionBasicTypesTests {
             ("testAttributeItemShouldThrowWhenConvertingMissingToNonOptional", testAttributeItemShouldThrowWhenConvertingMissingToNonOptional),
             ("testAttributeItemShouldConvertAttributeItemToOptional", testAttributeItemShouldConvertAttributeItemToOptional),
             ("testAttributeItemShouldConvertEmptyToOptional", testAttributeItemShouldConvertEmptyToOptional),
-            ("testAttributeItemShouldConvertMissingToOptional", testAttributeItemShouldConvertMissingToOptional)
+            ("testAttributeItemShouldConvertMissingToOptional", testAttributeItemShouldConvertMissingToOptional),
+            ("testShouldBeAbleToGetUserInfoDuringDeserialization", testShouldBeAbleToGetUserInfoDuringDeserialization)
         ]
     }
 }