The purpose of this study was to develop performance measures that will assist federal agencies to assess the quality and usefulness of their World Wide Web sites and to improve public information access service of those Web sites. The study was sponsored jointly by three federal agencies: the Defense Technical Information Center, the Energy Information Administration, and the Government Printing Office (GPO). The investigators conducted a literature review, reported in Chapter 1. They undertook an analysis of laws and policies affecting Web site performance measures, reported in Chapter 2. They met with agency representatives individually and collectively and analyzed documents provided by the agencies, as Chapter 3 explains. Chapter 4 describes the performance measures that emerged from the study. Chapter 5 sets forth key issues and recommends next steps. Appendices include: criteria for the evaluation of federal Web sites; Web site performance measurement and evaluation for GPO Access; and a proposal to study agency compliance with federal Web site policies. (Contains 27 references.) (MES)