diff --git a/plio/io/__init__.py b/plio/io/__init__.py
index f7acda990e30eff5af63f6cd73cb1c54842664b6..d44b96d6761745c2b876a3b5d2ea6c35a27622cb 100644
--- a/plio/io/__init__.py
+++ b/plio/io/__init__.py
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ import importlib
 import warnings
 import sys
 
-if 'osgeo' in sys.modules:
+try:
     gdal = importlib.util.find_spec('gdal')
     ogr = importlib.util.find_spec('osgeo.ogr')
     osr = importlib.util.find_spec('osr')
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ if 'osgeo' in sys.modules:
     ogr = ogr.loader.load_module()
     osr = osr.loader.load_module()
     gdal.UseExceptions() 
-else:
+except:
     gdal = None
     ogr = None
     osr = None
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 35b5e769e8e2bcbd5bbebae858458822b9691438..a5899f28db9c0ef42a61a9d21e5b2991250cc567 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ with open('README.md', 'r') as f:
 def setup_package():
     setup(
         name = "plio",
-        version = '1.0.0',
+        version = '1.1.0',
         author = "Jay Laura",
         author_email = "jlaura@usgs.gov",
         description = ("I/O API to support planetary data formats."),