diff --git a/hyracks/hyracks-api/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/hyracks/api/dataflow/value/IResultSerializer.java b/hyracks/hyracks-api/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/hyracks/api/dataflow/value/IResultSerializer.java
index afb17e4..ba2ff9a 100644
--- a/hyracks/hyracks-api/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/hyracks/api/dataflow/value/IResultSerializer.java
+++ b/hyracks/hyracks-api/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/hyracks/api/dataflow/value/IResultSerializer.java
@@ -21,6 +21,11 @@
 
 public interface IResultSerializer extends Serializable {
     /**
+     * Initializes the serializer.
+     */
+    public void init() throws HyracksDataException;
+
+    /**
      * Method to serialize the result and append it to the provided output stream
      * 
      * @param tAccess
diff --git a/hyracks/hyracks-dataflow-std/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/hyracks/dataflow/std/result/ResultWriterOperatorDescriptor.java b/hyracks/hyracks-dataflow-std/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/hyracks/dataflow/std/result/ResultWriterOperatorDescriptor.java
index 7518449..e500307 100644
--- a/hyracks/hyracks-dataflow-std/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/hyracks/dataflow/std/result/ResultWriterOperatorDescriptor.java
+++ b/hyracks/hyracks-dataflow-std/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/hyracks/dataflow/std/result/ResultWriterOperatorDescriptor.java
@@ -78,6 +78,7 @@
                 try {
                     datasetPartitionWriter = dpm.createDatasetPartitionWriter(ctx, rsId, ordered, partition, nPartitions);
                     datasetPartitionWriter.open();
+                    resultSerializer.init();
                 } catch (HyracksException e) {
                     throw new HyracksDataException(e);
                 }