Try this:
<xsl:value-of
select="/interAgency/conRec[contactID=$newcontactID]/file/@href"/>

This is the difference between the value of a node-set and the value of an
attribute (the @ indicates the selection of an attribute).

You will definitely want to check out the FAQ for this list.  
http://www.dpawson.co.uk/xsl/xslfaq.html

Good luck.

-----Original Message-----
From: Tanzila Mohammad [mailto:tmohammad@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Wednesday, April 25, 2001 11:08 AM
To: xsl-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject:  ahref

---
 <td colspan="3" width="363">
		    <font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"
color="#000000" size="1">
		        <a>
		<xsl:attribute name="href"><xsl:value-of
select="/interAgency/conRec[contactID=
$newcontactID]/file"/></xsl:attribute>
				<xsl:value-of
select="/interAgency/conRec[contactID=$newcontactID]/file"/>
			</a>
                    </font>
             </td>
             </tr>

 XSL-List info and archive:  http://www.mulberrytech.com/xsl/xsl-list