Any way to specify path for *.la files?

[J.T. Conklin]

I have a package with many (~75+) libraries that are built in multiple
(~3-4) subdirectories.  

If I wasn't using automake/libtool, I'd use -L to add the library
directories to the linker path.  Is there an equivalent for finding
*.la files?  Adding and maintaining library relative prefixes isn't
very appealing.

    --jtc

-- 
J.T. Conklin