Here’s some good news: the ACM has opened the first 50 years of its backfile. That’s all the articles between 1951 and 2000. That may be even better than it seems because recent papers are more apt to be available on the author(s)’ Website. It’s the old papers that can be hard to find.
Having access to those papers can be very useful for practitioners. For many years, I’ve maintained an ACM Digital Library subscription an found it worthwhile. It’s about $100 over the cost of an ACM membership so may be out of the price range for some. Opening the first 50 years goes a long way towards making these valuable papers available to all.
Kudos to the ACM for taking this step.