diff --git a/default_logger.go b/default_logger.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2679cc4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/default_logger.go
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+package connector
+
+import "log"
+
+// the default implementation for a logger
+// for this package.
+type DefaultLogger struct {
+}
+
+func (l *DefaultLogger) Fatalf(format string, v ...interface{}) {
+	log.Fatalf(format, v...)
+}
+func (l *DefaultLogger) Printf(format string, v ...interface{}) {
+	log.Printf(format, v...)
+}
+
+// make sure that there is a default logger instance
+// initialized, so that we don't end up with panics
+var logger Logger = &DefaultLogger{}
+
+// expose the ability to change the logger so that
+// external packages can control the logging for
+// this package
+func SetLogger(l Logger) {
+	logger = l
+}
diff --git a/pipeline.go b/pipeline.go
index d0d7911..7156065 100644
--- a/pipeline.go
+++ b/pipeline.go
@@ -16,7 +16,6 @@ type Pipeline struct {
 	Checkpoint  Checkpoint
 	Emitter     Emitter
 	Filter      Filter
-	Logger      Logger
 	StreamName  string
 	Transformer Transformer
 }
@@ -38,7 +37,7 @@ func (p Pipeline) ProcessShard(ksis *kinesis.Kinesis, shardID string) {
 	shardInfo, err := ksis.GetShardIterator(args)
 
 	if err != nil {
-		p.Logger.Fatalf("GetShardIterator ERROR: %v\n", err)
+		logger.Fatalf("GetShardIterator ERROR: %v\n", err)
 	}
 
 	shardIterator := shardInfo.ShardIterator
@@ -49,7 +48,7 @@ func (p Pipeline) ProcessShard(ksis *kinesis.Kinesis, shardID string) {
 		recordSet, err := ksis.GetRecords(args)
 
 		if err != nil {
-			p.Logger.Fatalf("GetRecords ERROR: %v\n", err)
+			logger.Fatalf("GetRecords ERROR: %v\n", err)
 		}
 
 		if len(recordSet.Records) > 0 {
@@ -57,7 +56,7 @@ func (p Pipeline) ProcessShard(ksis *kinesis.Kinesis, shardID string) {
 				data := v.GetData()
 
 				if err != nil {
-					p.Logger.Printf("GetData ERROR: %v\n", err)
+					logger.Printf("GetData ERROR: %v\n", err)
 					continue
 				}
 
@@ -68,7 +67,7 @@ func (p Pipeline) ProcessShard(ksis *kinesis.Kinesis, shardID string) {
 				}
 			}
 		} else if recordSet.NextShardIterator == "" || shardIterator == recordSet.NextShardIterator || err != nil {
-			p.Logger.Printf("NextShardIterator ERROR: %v\n", err)
+			logger.Printf("NextShardIterator ERROR: %v\n", err)
 			break
 		} else {
 			time.Sleep(5 * time.Second)
diff --git a/redshift_basic_emitter.go b/redshift_basic_emitter.go
index e61c3c9..09caa70 100644
--- a/redshift_basic_emitter.go
+++ b/redshift_basic_emitter.go
@@ -17,7 +17,6 @@ type RedshiftBasicEmitter struct {
 	Delimiter string
 	Format    string
 	Jsonpaths string
-	Logger    Logger
 	S3Bucket  string
 	TableName string
 }
@@ -31,16 +30,16 @@ func (e RedshiftBasicEmitter) Emit(b Buffer, t Transformer) {
 	db, err := sql.Open("postgres", os.Getenv("REDSHIFT_URL"))
 
 	if err != nil {
-		e.Logger.Fatalf("sql.Open ERROR: %v\n", err)
+		logger.Fatalf("sql.Open ERROR: %v\n", err)
 	}
 
 	_, err = db.Exec(e.copyStatement(s3File))
 
 	if err != nil {
-		e.Logger.Fatalf("db.Exec ERROR: %v\n", err)
+		logger.Fatalf("db.Exec ERROR: %v\n", err)
 	}
 
-	e.Logger.Printf("Redshift load completed.\n")
+	logger.Printf("Redshift load completed.\n")
 	db.Close()
 }
 
diff --git a/redshift_manifest_emitter.go b/redshift_manifest_emitter.go
index ed585f2..78cfaa4 100644
--- a/redshift_manifest_emitter.go
+++ b/redshift_manifest_emitter.go
@@ -24,7 +24,6 @@ type RedshiftManifestEmitter struct {
 	FileTable     string
 	Format        string
 	Jsonpaths     string
-	Logger        Logger
 	S3Bucket      string
 	SecretKey     string
 }
@@ -35,7 +34,7 @@ func (e RedshiftManifestEmitter) Emit(b Buffer, t Transformer) {
 	db, err := sql.Open("postgres", os.Getenv("REDSHIFT_URL"))
 
 	if err != nil {
-		e.Logger.Fatalf("sql.Open ERROR: %v\n", err)
+		logger.Fatalf("sql.Open ERROR: %v\n", err)
 	}
 
 	// Aggregate file paths as strings
@@ -55,7 +54,7 @@ func (e RedshiftManifestEmitter) Emit(b Buffer, t Transformer) {
 	_, err = db.Exec(c)
 
 	if err != nil {
-		e.Logger.Fatalf("db.Exec ERROR: %v\n", err)
+		logger.Fatalf("db.Exec ERROR: %v\n", err)
 	}
 
 	// Insert file paths into File Names table
@@ -63,10 +62,10 @@ func (e RedshiftManifestEmitter) Emit(b Buffer, t Transformer) {
 	_, err = db.Exec(i)
 
 	if err != nil {
-		e.Logger.Fatalf("db.Exec ERROR: %v\n", err)
+		logger.Fatalf("db.Exec ERROR: %v\n", err)
 	}
 
-	e.Logger.Printf("[%v] copied to Redshift", manifestFileName)
+	logger.Printf("[%v] copied to Redshift", manifestFileName)
 	db.Close()
 }
 
diff --git a/s3_emitter.go b/s3_emitter.go
index e141c54..8666f0d 100644
--- a/s3_emitter.go
+++ b/s3_emitter.go
@@ -16,7 +16,6 @@ import (
 // from the first and last sequence numbers of the records contained in that file separated by a
 // dash. This struct requires the configuration of an S3 bucket and endpoint.
 type S3Emitter struct {
-	Logger   Logger
 	S3Bucket string
 }
 
@@ -44,8 +43,8 @@ func (e S3Emitter) Emit(b Buffer, t Transformer) {
 	err := bucket.Put(s3File, buffer.Bytes(), "text/plain", s3.Private, s3.Options{})
 
 	if err != nil {
-		e.Logger.Fatalf("S3Put ERROR: %v\n", err.Error())
+		logger.Fatalf("S3Put ERROR: %v\n", err.Error())
 	} else {
-		e.Logger.Printf("[%v] records emitted to [%s]\n", b.NumRecordsInBuffer(), e.S3Bucket)
+		logger.Printf("[%v] records emitted to [%s]\n", b.NumRecordsInBuffer(), e.S3Bucket)
 	}
 }
diff --git a/s3_manifest_emitter.go b/s3_manifest_emitter.go
index 59aa565..88b3d06 100644
--- a/s3_manifest_emitter.go
+++ b/s3_manifest_emitter.go
@@ -10,7 +10,6 @@ type S3ManifestEmitter struct {
 	OutputStream string
 	S3Bucket     string
 	Ksis         *kinesis.Kinesis
-	Logger       Logger
 }
 
 func (e S3ManifestEmitter) Emit(b Buffer, t Transformer) {
@@ -29,8 +28,8 @@ func (e S3ManifestEmitter) Emit(b Buffer, t Transformer) {
 	_, err := e.Ksis.PutRecord(args)
 
 	if err != nil {
-		e.Logger.Printf("PutRecord ERROR: %v", err)
+		logger.Printf("PutRecord ERROR: %v", err)
 	} else {
-		e.Logger.Printf("[%s] emitted to [%s]", b.FirstSequenceNumber(), e.OutputStream)
+		logger.Printf("[%s] emitted to [%s]", b.FirstSequenceNumber(), e.OutputStream)
 	}
 }