diff --git a/asterixdb/asterix-external-data/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/external/parser/jackson/ObjectPool.java b/asterixdb/asterix-external-data/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/external/parser/jackson/ObjectPool.java
index 5ccd9e9..8945e71 100644
--- a/asterixdb/asterix-external-data/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/external/parser/jackson/ObjectPool.java
+++ b/asterixdb/asterix-external-data/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/external/parser/jackson/ObjectPool.java
@@ -59,4 +59,9 @@
             recycledObjects.add(object);
         }
     }
+
+    @Override
+    public String toString() {
+        return recycledObjects.toString();
+    }
 }
diff --git a/asterixdb/asterix-om/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/formats/nontagged/SerializerDeserializerProvider.java b/asterixdb/asterix-om/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/formats/nontagged/SerializerDeserializerProvider.java
index 0cba8b6..356b84c 100644
--- a/asterixdb/asterix-om/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/formats/nontagged/SerializerDeserializerProvider.java
+++ b/asterixdb/asterix-om/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/formats/nontagged/SerializerDeserializerProvider.java
@@ -171,7 +171,7 @@
     }
 
     @SuppressWarnings("rawtypes")
-    private ISerializerDeserializer addTag(final ISerializerDeserializer nonTaggedSerde) {
+    public static ISerializerDeserializer addTag(final ISerializerDeserializer nonTaggedSerde) {
         return new ISerializerDeserializer<IAObject>() {
 
             private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
diff --git a/asterixdb/asterix-om/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/om/pointables/AbstractVisitablePointable.java b/asterixdb/asterix-om/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/om/pointables/AbstractVisitablePointable.java
index 2ff9357..e9aa99c 100644
--- a/asterixdb/asterix-om/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/om/pointables/AbstractVisitablePointable.java
+++ b/asterixdb/asterix-om/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/om/pointables/AbstractVisitablePointable.java
@@ -59,4 +59,10 @@
         set(ivf.getByteArray(), ivf.getStartOffset(), ivf.getLength());
     }
 
+    @Override
+    public String toString() {
+        return "{ \"class\" : \"" + getClass().getSimpleName() + "\", \"data\" : "
+                + (data == null ? "null" : ("\"" + System.identityHashCode(data) + ":" + data.length + "\""))
+                + ", \"offset\" : " + start + ", \"length\" : " + len + " }";
+    }
 }
diff --git a/asterixdb/asterix-om/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/om/pointables/PointableAllocator.java b/asterixdb/asterix-om/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/om/pointables/PointableAllocator.java
index 91c47fd..411f067 100644
--- a/asterixdb/asterix-om/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/om/pointables/PointableAllocator.java
+++ b/asterixdb/asterix-om/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/om/pointables/PointableAllocator.java
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@
                 }
             });
 
-    public IVisitablePointable allocateEmpty() {
+    public AFlatValuePointable allocateEmpty() {
         return flatValueAllocator.allocate(null);
     }
 
diff --git a/asterixdb/asterix-om/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/om/utils/AdmNodeUtils.java b/asterixdb/asterix-om/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/om/utils/AdmNodeUtils.java
index 6f4ee17..f8ce905 100644
--- a/asterixdb/asterix-om/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/om/utils/AdmNodeUtils.java
+++ b/asterixdb/asterix-om/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/om/utils/AdmNodeUtils.java
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@
 import org.apache.asterix.om.types.AOrderedListType;
 import org.apache.asterix.om.types.ARecordType;
 import org.apache.asterix.om.types.ATypeTag;
+import org.apache.hyracks.data.std.api.IPointable;
 import org.apache.hyracks.data.std.primitive.BooleanPointable;
 import org.apache.hyracks.data.std.primitive.DoublePointable;
 import org.apache.hyracks.data.std.primitive.LongPointable;
@@ -56,6 +57,45 @@
         return map;
     }
 
+    public static IAdmNode getAsAdmNode(IPointable pointable) throws IOException {
+        byte[] bytes = pointable.getByteArray();
+        int offset = pointable.getStartOffset();
+        int len = pointable.getLength();
+        if (len == 0) {
+            throw new IllegalArgumentException();
+        }
+        byte tagByte = bytes[offset];
+        ATypeTag tag = ATypeTag.VALUE_TYPE_MAPPING[tagByte];
+        switch (tag) {
+            case ARRAY:
+                AListPointable listPointable = AListPointable.FACTORY.createPointable();
+                listPointable.set(bytes, offset, len);
+                return getAsAdmNode(listPointable);
+            case BIGINT:
+                return new AdmBigIntNode(LongPointable.getLong(bytes, offset + 1));
+            case BOOLEAN:
+                return AdmBooleanNode.get(BooleanPointable.getBoolean(bytes, offset + 1));
+            case DOUBLE:
+                return new AdmDoubleNode(DoublePointable.getDouble(bytes, offset + 1));
+            case NULL:
+                return AdmNullNode.INSTANCE;
+            case OBJECT:
+                ARecordPointable recPointable = ARecordPointable.FACTORY.createPointable();
+                recPointable.set(bytes, offset, len);
+                try {
+                    return new AdmObjectNode(getOpenFields(recPointable, RecordUtil.FULLY_OPEN_RECORD_TYPE));
+                } catch (IOException e) {
+                    throw new IllegalArgumentException(e);
+                }
+            case STRING:
+                UTF8StringPointable str = UTF8StringPointable.FACTORY.createPointable();
+                str.set(bytes, offset + 1, len - 1);
+                return new AdmStringNode(str.toString());
+            default:
+                throw new UnsupportedOperationException("Unsupported item type: " + tag);
+        }
+    }
+
     private static IAdmNode getOpenField(ARecordPointable recPointable, ARecordType type, int i) throws IOException {
         byte tagByte = recPointable.getOpenFieldTag(type, i);
         ATypeTag tag = ATypeTag.VALUE_TYPE_MAPPING[tagByte];