diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix
index 363e98e42ce..ec6458ab59f 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix
@@ -14647,11 +14647,18 @@ in modules // {
 
   xlrd = buildPythonPackage rec {
     name = "xlrd-${version}";
+
     version = "0.9.4";
     src = pkgs.fetchurl {
       url = "https://pypi.python.org/packages/source/x/xlrd/xlrd-${version}.tar.gz";
       sha256 = "8e8d3359f39541a6ff937f4030db54864836a06e42988c452db5b6b86d29ea72";
     };
+
+    buildInputs = with self; [ nose ];
+    checkPhase = ''
+      nosetests -v
+    '';
+
   };
 
   bottleneck = buildPythonPackage rec {