diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index a0d923001cf44b4b59b4c02d51e5be9d00f9d4a0..3768cf18c7fedb7cd3c4494ad7a8d81a965bf4d6 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 # need automake >= 1.5
 AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS = foreign 1.5
 
-SUBDIRS = common doc bin m4 am
+SUBDIRS = lib common doc bin m4 am
 
 pkgconfigdir = $(libdir)/pkgconfig
 pkgconfig_DATA = dune.pc
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 85432b3be1f59e018dccc4d3ce3a74cb0c38db9a..6b2a966ee80118361801e89aaec0e91e416ae0cc 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ echo
 
 # write output
 AC_CONFIG_FILES([Makefile
+     lib/Makefile
      bin/Makefile
      common/Makefile
      common/test/Makefile
diff --git a/lib/.gitignore b/lib/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..cd54497c88652c6ff265d2624ce68e6cc9b8d478
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+.libs
+Makefile.in
+Makefile
+libdunecommon.la
diff --git a/lib/Makefile.am b/lib/Makefile.am
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..cf1d73b6fc560f7c1387a8653d7333955068263c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/Makefile.am
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+# $Id: $
+
+#the dune-common library
+lib_LTLIBRARIES = libdunecommon.la
+
+# this is just a renaming of libcommon to prevent name clashes
+libdunecommon_la_SOURCES =
+libdunecommon_la_LIBADD = ../common/libcommon.la
+
+include $(top_srcdir)/am/global-rules