For more than three decades, Access has provided a unique indexing resource for popular periodicals. It does not duplicate any indexing in the Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature and following Access' publication on the internet in 1999 any indexing found in the general indexes of the H.W. Wilson Company available via the WilsonWeb. Access was the first index to provide indexing for a number of important U.S. periodicals like the New York Review of Books and Rolling Stone. It continues this work today by indexing approximately eighty-five of the most important popular periodicals. Access also indexes new national publications as they first appear and most major city and regional magazines not indexed in the Readers' Guide. Because more than one hundred periodicals have been added to the Readers' Guide from Access' indexing, Access serves as an historical supplement to it.

Access is published for libraries via IP address, but individuals not associated with a library, government agency or corporation who are unable to use Access in a local library may subscribe by personal subscription.

Access is the most economical way to supplement the Readers' Guide indexing of popular periodicals, and it is the only index which regularly brings bibliographical control to important new popular periodicals as they are first published.

IP Type I (Public libraries with five or fewer branches or colleges and universities with fewer than 20,000 students) (electronic) $477.50
IP Type II (Public libraries with six or more branches or colleges and universities with more than 20,000 students. Additional subscription cost may apply to very large insitutions) (electronic) $577.50
Retrospective volumes of Access in print, per volume year, 1975-2008. (Current subscribers only) $367.50

For a complete list of periodicals indexed in Access and indexing coverage, consult the Access search page in the Research Center.

The reviewing magazine Choice recommended Access in its 2008 review, particularly for lower-level undergraduates and general readers.