diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 3ddd06a..298a557 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -22,6 +22,9 @@ addons:
 env:
   global:
     - GODEBUG=cgocheck=0
+    - TAGS="hdf5_v1.8"
+    ## FIXME: add hdf5_v1.10 when trusty->bionic
+    ## - TAGS="hdf5_v1.8 hdf5_v1.10"
 
 notifications:
   email:
@@ -31,7 +34,7 @@ notifications:
     on_failure: always
 
 script:
- - go get -d -t -v ./...
- - go install -v ./...
- - go test -v ./...
+ - go get -d -t -v -tags="$TAGS" ./...
+ - go install -v -tags="$TAGS" ./...
+ - go test -v -tags="$TAGS" ./...
 
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index ff7150b..acbe2e9 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -15,11 +15,15 @@ Naive ``cgo`` bindings for the ``C-API`` of ``hdf5``.
 
 - Writing/reading an ``hdf5`` with compound data: [cmd/test-go-cpxcmpd/main.go](https://github.com/gonum/hdf5/blob/master/cmd/test-go-cpxcmpd/main.go)
 
-## Note
+## Notes
 
 - *Only* version *1.8.x* of ``HDF5`` is supported.
 - In order to use ``HDF5`` functions in more than one goroutine simultaneously, you must build the HDF5 library with threading support. Many binary distributions (RHEL/centos/Fedora packages, etc.) do not have this enabled. Therefore, you must build HDF5 yourself on these systems.
-
+- By default, `gonum/hdf5` is assuming to be compiled against `hdf5-v1.8.x`.
+  If you want to take advantage of the new features of `hdf5-v1.10.x`, please build it with the `hdf5_v1.10` build tag:
+	```
+	$> go install -tags="hdf5_v1.10" ./...
+	```
 
 ## Known problems
 
diff --git a/h5f_v1.10.go b/h5f_v1.10.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f03262b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/h5f_v1.10.go
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+// Copyright ©2018 The gonum Authors. All rights reserved.
+// Use of this source code is governed by a BSD-style
+// license that can be found in the LICENSE file.
+
+//+build hdf5_v1.10
+
+package hdf5
+
+// #include "hdf5.h"
+import "C"
+
+// StartSWMRWrite enables SWMR writing mode for this file.
+func (f *File) StartSWMRWrite() error {
+	return h5err(C.H5Fstart_swmr_write(f.id))
+}