diff --git a/src/HDF5.jl b/src/HDF5.jl
index 560018d6a..fccc3572e 100644
--- a/src/HDF5.jl
+++ b/src/HDF5.jl
@@ -1966,21 +1966,6 @@ function create_external(source::Union{File,Group}, source_relpath, target_filen
     nothing
 end
 
-# error handling
-function silence_errors(f::Function)
-    estack = H5E_DEFAULT
-    func, client_data = h5e_get_auto(estack)
-    h5e_set_auto(estack, C_NULL, C_NULL)
-    try
-        return f()
-    finally
-        h5e_set_auto(estack, func, client_data)
-    end
-end
-
-# Define globally because JLD uses this, too
-const rehash! = Base.rehash!
-
 # Across initializations of the library, the id of various properties
 # will change. So don't hard-code the id (important for precompilation)
 const UTF8_LINK_PROPERTIES = Ref{Properties}()
diff --git a/src/api_midlevel.jl b/src/api_midlevel.jl
index 4a66ded12..923f1b5cd 100644
--- a/src/api_midlevel.jl
+++ b/src/api_midlevel.jl
@@ -45,3 +45,19 @@ function get_extent_dims(obj::Union{Dataspace,Dataset,Attribute})
     obj isa Dataspace || close(dspace)
     return dims, maxdims
 end
+
+"""
+    silence_errors(f::Function)
+
+During execution of the function `f`, disable printing of internal HDF5 library error messages.
+"""
+function silence_errors(f::Function)
+    estack = H5E_DEFAULT
+    func, client_data = h5e_get_auto(estack)
+    h5e_set_auto(estack, C_NULL, C_NULL)
+    try
+        return f()
+    finally
+        h5e_set_auto(estack, func, client_data)
+    end
+end