This is an example of how to use GNU Autotools to build and install a Python SWIG-generate module that links against a library.
All non-Autotools files, in particular the SWIG outputs, can be built out-of-tree.
Non-root installation is possible, but requires that you set PYTHONPATH appropriately. You shouldn't have to set LD_LIBRARY_PATH to use the Python module.
See 'demo.sh' for an example of all of this.
In a real project you would probably add ax_python_devel.m4, ax_pkg_swig, and ax_swig_python to m4/.