Does a workaround or solution exists for the label conflict of circuitikz and TikZ?

Question

I would like to use circuitikz with TikZ. However, I find that circuitikz modifies or does not recognize TikZ labels. The author of circuitiz has commented that in the "released version of CircuiTikz (0.2.3) the problem has been fixed." But the problem still exists.

Does a workaround or solution exists for the label conflict of circuitikz and tikz?

Here is a simple example using TikZ v2.10 and circuitikz v0.23. Instead of getting a resistor labeled R1 below it, I get a resistor labeled info above it when circuitikz is active. It makes no difference which environment is used, tikzpicture or circuitikz.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{circuits.ee.IEC}
\usepackage{circuitikz}
\usepackage{siunitx}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}[circuit ee IEC,
    set resistor graphic    = var resistor IEC graphic]
\draw (0,0) to[resistor={info'={$R_1$}}] (2,0);
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

Answer 1

Though I have not found a direct workaround or solution to my original question regarding the label conflict between tikz and circuitikz, I have been using the following method for many months. Others, I'm certain, use the same idea, as it's based on the circuitikz manual. I use the circuitikz (and tikz) package, but rely principally on the circuitikz library.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usepackage[siunitx,european,american]{circuitikz}

\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}
\draw (0,0) to[R,l_=$R_1$] (2,0);
\draw (0,1) to[R,l=$R_2$]  (2,1);
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}