After a lot of fruitless searching and experiments I finally found the solution - can't believe how simple it is, and it was right here on this site. 
export LDFLAGS=/usr/local/lib
perl Makefile.PL

[download]
Like LD_LIBRARY_PATH the LDFLAGS is only temporary, but it is only needed while making the lib.

Thanks for the help.

In reply to Re: Setting library path in Makefile by bangor
in thread Setting library path in Makefile by bangor

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