For more than two 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 seventy periodicals have been added to the Readers' Guide from Access' indexing, Access serves as an historical supplement to it.

Access subscribers receive with their subscriptions single user password controlled use of Access' retrospective indexing. Access is also available via IP address for libraries that wish to have our index available system wide without password control.