diff --git a/lib/linalg/Makefile.gfortran b/lib/linalg/Makefile.gfortran
index 3ec6cf79aa..af0bfd96e6 100755
--- a/lib/linalg/Makefile.gfortran
+++ b/lib/linalg/Makefile.gfortran
@@ -4,7 +4,8 @@
 
 # To compile and link LAMMPS to the linalg library generated by this Makefile,
 # try appending the following definitions to the standard definitions in
-# whatever LAMMPS Makefile your are using.  
+# whatever LAMMPS Makefile your are using, e.g. in lib/atc/Makefile.lammps
+
 # CCFLAGS =      -I../../lib/linalg
 # LINKFLAGS =    -L../../lib/libalg
 # USRLIB =       -llinalg -lgfortran
diff --git a/lib/linalg/Makefile.mingw_cross b/lib/linalg/Makefile.mingw_cross
index b767d98167..36b5bd5806 100755
--- a/lib/linalg/Makefile.mingw_cross
+++ b/lib/linalg/Makefile.mingw_cross
@@ -4,7 +4,8 @@
 
 # To compile and link LAMMPS to the linalg library generated by this Makefile,
 # try appending the following definitions to the standard definitions in
-# whatever LAMMPS Makefile your are using.  
+# whatever LAMMPS Makefile your are using, e.g. in lib/atc/Makefile.lammps
+
 # CCFLAGS =      -I../../lib/linalg
 # LINKFLAGS =    -L../../lib/libalg
 # USRLIB =       -llinalg -lgfortran
diff --git a/lib/linalg/README b/lib/linalg/README
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a680657aa7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/linalg/README
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+This directory has BLAS and LAPACK files needed
+by the USER-ATC package (or other packages in the future).
+
+You should only need to build and use the files in this
+directory if you want to build LAMMPS with the USER-ATC package
+and do not have the standard BLAS and LAPACK libraries on your
+system.
+
+Use one of the Makefiles provided to build this library.
+You may need to edit if for your system.
+
+When you are done building this library, one file should
+exist in this directory:
+
+liblinalg.a		the library LAMMPS will link against
+
+You can then include this library and its path in any packages that
+need it, e.g. in the lib/atc/Makefile.lammps file.