diff --git a/lib/sof/members.rb b/lib/sof/members.rb
index 5ef8098d..732ce07e 100644
--- a/lib/sof/members.rb
+++ b/lib/sof/members.rb
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 module Sof
   
   class Members
+    include Util
+    
     def initialize root
       @root = root
       @counter = 1
@@ -10,7 +12,7 @@ module Sof
     attr_reader :objects , :root
     
     def add object , level
-      return if Members.is_value?(object)
+      return if is_value?(object)
       if( @objects.has_key?(object) )
         occurence = @objects[object]
         occurence.level = level if occurence.level > level
@@ -21,7 +23,7 @@ module Sof
       @counter = @counter + 1
       attributes = attributes_for(object)
       attributes.each do |a|
-        val = object.instance_variable_get "@#{a}".to_sym
+        val = get_value( object , a)
         add(val , level + 1)
       end
       if( object.is_a? Array )
@@ -30,23 +32,5 @@ module Sof
         end
       end
     end
-
-    def self.is_value? o
-      return true if o == true
-      return true if o == false
-      return true if o == nil
-      return true if o.class == Fixnum
-      return true if o.class == Symbol
-      return true if o.class == String
-      return false
-    end
-
-    def attributes_for object
-      if( Known.is( object.class ))
-        Known.attributes(object.class)
-      else
-        object.instance_variables.collect{|i| i.to_s[1..-1].to_sym } # chop of @
-      end
-    end
   end
 end
diff --git a/lib/sof/util.rb b/lib/sof/util.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..4e1eb6be
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/sof/util.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+module Sof
+  module Util
+    def is_value? o
+      return true if o == true
+      return true if o == false
+      return true if o == nil
+      return true if o.class == Fixnum
+      return true if o.class == Symbol
+      return true if o.class == String
+      return false
+    end
+
+    def get_value(object,name)
+      object.instance_variable_get "@#{name}".to_sym
+    end
+
+    def attributes_for object
+      if( Known.is( object.class ))
+        Known.attributes(object.class)
+      else
+        object.instance_variables.collect{|i| i.to_s[1..-1].to_sym } # chop of @
+      end
+    end
+    
+  end
+end