🚀 go-pugleaf

It is quite possible to create a data-driven catalog in InDesign from Access. There are several ways it can be done, including: 
1. Opening the database from VBA and iterating through a recordset, adding content to the InDesign file as you go. 
2. Outputting tagged text files from Access and placing them in an InDesign template. 
3. Outputting XML from Access and placing it in an InDesign template. 

Of these, I think 2 is easiest to start with and 1 is ultimately the most powerful. XML is wonderful, but it can add an intermediate step that really isn't essential: I would tend to use the third method only if the data is already XML. 

To learn about Access and VBA (I would say DAO is easiest unless you plan to move to SQL Server some day, then ADO makes more sense) see the Access newsgroups <http://communities.microsoft.com/newsgroups/default.asp> (or you can subscribe to them in your newsreader), for example: 
microsoft.public.access.modulesdaovba