Hard to tell what kind of info you are missing, but if my guess is right, I am afraid you need to be ready to deal with type of information given.
In my experience those on mathematical side of problems (and it is not only related to QM, I saw exactly the same approach in numerical methods) don't care about practical details, they are happy knowing something is doable. Tables contain info on properties that are important for general scheme, but not for nitty-gritty.