changing LD_LIBRARY_PATH

I have seen a lot of traffic on this issue, but can't find anything on my problem. Most deal with making permanent changes (.bashrc, .profile, etc.) I want to make temporary changes in the LD_LIBRARY_PATH var, for the current login. I have done the: set LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH:/mydir/lib export LD_LIBRARY_PATH to no effect. echo LD_LIBRARY_PATH confirms the change as does set and env. But it does not work. Further experimentation such as unset LD_LIBRARY_PATH followed by echo $LD_LIBRARY_PATH which shows no LD_LIBRARY_PATH. Librarys are still found however, in the previously defined locations. Running suse 7.1, kde2, and fairly new to linux. thanks, Otto Porter