Where to put dev libs?

Hi,

I'm trying to compile a program gbonds on Debian stable. I've installed
the libxxx-dev packages needed and since libgnome was too old, 1.0.56
instead of 1.2.xx, I downloaded the source from testing and compiled it.
So far so good.

Now I don't have a clue on how to package it or whether I should just do
a make install and forget it. The second idea sort of breaks the Debian
way and could overwrite header and libs that are needed by the current
machine etc.

I could copy the libs and headers into the gbonds directory to compile
so the -I. or -L. compiler options can pick them up or I could do a
./configure --prefix=PATH so the libs and headers go elsewhere but then
the gbonds make won't work.

Any help or insight or RTFM references appreciated.

Eric