def METHOD_NAME(self, table_id):
    """Return True if the passed CDS table identifier is one of the
    available VizieR tables, otherwise False.
    """
    # table_id can actually be a Table instance, there is no point in
    # comparing those to stings
    if not isinstance(table_id, str):
        return False
    if (table_id[:7] == 'vizier:'):
        table_id = table_id[7:]
    return table_id in self.get_available_tables()