diff --git a/README_evio.md b/README_evio.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..b3fd5c8826b267357785c1b51a7e58aec20a322f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/README_evio.md
@@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
+hcana with externally built evio libraries
+============================================
+
+As of PODD version 1.6, EVIO is built as an external library from the official JLAB
+DAQ group source code.  As of this writing, the official release is version 4.4.5.
+In order to compile hcana with PODD version 1.6, one must download, install, and define
+appropriate environment variables for the evio libraries.
+
+Downloading
+-----------
+
+On your local system, retrieve and unpack the EVIO source distribution:
+
+	$ wget --no-check-certificate https://coda.jlab.org/drupal/system/files/coda/evio/evio-4.4/evio-4.4.5.tgz
+	$ tar -xvzf evio-4.4.5.tgz
+	$ cd evio-4.4.5
+
+This will unpack the EVIO source code in a directory called evio-4.4.5, and take you
+into that new directory.
+
+Compiling
+---------
+
+You can now compile the EVIO libraries with:
+
+	$ scons
+	$ scons install --prefix=.
+
+This will install the libaries in a subdirectory of the current source directory according to the operating system that you are using.
+
+Environment
+-----------
+
+The final step is to define the environment variables necessary to tell hcana where your EVIO libraries are installed.  I include here excerpts from a my .cshrc file on the JLab systems (where the SHELL is tcsh), and also from my .bash_profile file on a Mac OS X system (where the SHELL is bash).  This should give you enough of a guide to be able to modify your environment variable definition appropriately.
+
+.cshrc
+
+	setenv HCANALYZER /home/brash/analysis/hcana
+	setenv ANALYZER /home/brash/analysis/hcana/podd
+	setenv INSTALL_DIR /home/brash/evio-4.4.5
+	setenv KERNEL_NAME `uname -s`
+	setenv MACHINE_NAME `uname -m`
+	setenv EVIO_SUBDIR $KERNEL_NAME-$MACHINE_NAME
+	setenv EVIO_BINDIR $INSTALL_DIR/$EVIO_SUBDIR/bin
+	setenv EVIO_LIBDIR $INSTALL_DIR/$EVIO_SUBDIR/lib
+	setenv EVIO_INCDIR $INSTALL_DIR/$EVIO_SUBDIR/include
+	setenv LD_LIBRARY_PATH "${HCANALYZER}:${ANALYZER}/src:${ANALYZER}/hana_decode:${ANALYZER}/hana_scaler:${EVIO_LIBDIR}:${ANALYZER}"
+	setenv DB_DIR $ANALYZER/DB
+	set path = ( $ANALYZER/bin $HCANALYZER/bin $EVIO_BINDIR $path )
+
+.bash_profile
+
+	export HCANALYZER=/Users/brash/Dropbox/Research/analysis/hcana
+	export ANALYZER=/Users/brash/Dropbox/Research/analysis/hcana/podd
+	export INSTALL_DIR=/Users/brash/Dropbox/Research/analyzer-evio/evio-4.4.5
+	export KERNEL_NAME=`uname -s`
+	export MACHINE_NAME=`uname -m`
+	export EVIO_SUBDIR=$KERNEL_NAME-$MACHINE_NAME
+	export EVIO_BINDIR=$INSTALL_DIR/$EVIO_SUBDIR/bin
+	export EVIO_LIBDIR=$INSTALL_DIR/$EVIO_SUBDIR/lib
+	export EVIO_INCDIR=$INSTALL_DIR/$EVIO_SUBDIR/include
+	export PATH=$HCANALYZER/bin:$ANALYZER/bin:$EVIO_BINDIR:$PATH
+	export DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH=$HCANALYZER:$ANALYZER:$EVIO_LIBDIR:$DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH
+	export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$HCANALYZER:$ANALYZER:$EVIO_LIBDIR:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH
+
+
+