I've noticed that every single time I run a query in MS-Access the entire interface becomes unresponsive for the duration of the query run. This very much appears to me to be blocking behavior.
Is there any set of APIs (ODBC, OLE, ADO, ADOX, etc) that allows non-blocking access to an MS-Access database (JET)? I'd even settle for using SQL server.
If it is possible, does it require a specific version of JET to be used?
My guess is that the answer is no, but I thought I'd ask anyway.
Access is single-threaded so your observation is correct.
However, several instances of Access can access the same (backend) database so that may be an option you for - for example for a reporting or exporting "engine" that creates a long series of reports or exports.