diff --git a/tests/test_build.py b/tests/test_build.py
index c764dbd..4c36dd9 100644
--- a/tests/test_build.py
+++ b/tests/test_build.py
@@ -1,9 +1,17 @@
+from nose.tools import eq_
 from wordfreq.build import load_all_data
+from wordfreq.query import wordlist_info
 from wordfreq.transfer import download_and_extract_raw_data
 from wordfreq import config
 import os
 import tempfile
 import shutil
+import sqlite3
+
+
+def flatten_list_of_dicts(list_of_dicts):
+    things = [sorted(d.items()) for d in list_of_dicts]
+    return sorted(things)
 
 
 def test_build():
@@ -17,7 +25,10 @@ def test_build():
     try:
         db_file = os.path.join(tempdir, 'test.db')
         load_all_data(config.RAW_DATA_DIR, db_file)
+        conn = sqlite3.connect(db_file)
 
-        assert open(db_file).read() == open(config.DB_FILENAME).read()
+        # Compare the information we got to the information in the default DB.
+        eq_(flatten_list_of_dicts(wordlist_info(conn)),
+            flatten_list_of_dicts(wordlist_info(None)))
     finally:
         shutil.rmtree(tempdir)
diff --git a/tests/test_queries.py b/tests/test_queries.py
index 165ff47..b307e0c 100644
--- a/tests/test_queries.py
+++ b/tests/test_queries.py
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 from __future__ import unicode_literals
 from nose.tools import eq_, assert_almost_equal, assert_greater
 from wordfreq.query import (word_frequency, average_frequency, wordlist_size,
-                            get_wordlists, metanl_word_frequency)
+                            wordlist_info, metanl_word_frequency)
 
 
 def test_freq_examples():
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ def _check_normalized_frequencies(wordlist, lang):
 
 
 def test_normalized_frequencies():
-    for list_info in get_wordlists():
+    for list_info in wordlist_info():
         wordlist = list_info['wordlist']
         lang = list_info['lang']
         yield _check_normalized_frequencies, wordlist, lang
diff --git a/wordfreq/query.py b/wordfreq/query.py
index a33b7cc..d2cffbd 100644
--- a/wordfreq/query.py
+++ b/wordfreq/query.py
@@ -101,8 +101,18 @@ def iter_wordlist(wordlist='multi', lang=None):
     return results
 
 
-def get_wordlists():
-    c = CONN.cursor()
+def wordlist_info(connection=None):
+    """
+    Get info about all the wordlists in a database, returning their
+    list name, language, and number of words as 'wordlist', 'lang',
+    and 'count' respectively.
+
+    The database connection can be given as an argument, in order to get
+    information about a database other than the default configured one.
+    """
+    if connection is None:
+        connection = CONN
+    c = connection.cursor()
     results = c.execute(
         "SELECT wordlist, lang, count(*) from words GROUP BY wordlist, lang"
     )