diff --git a/Doc/library/packaging.database.rst b/Doc/library/packaging.database.rst
--- a/Doc/library/packaging.database.rst
+++ b/Doc/library/packaging.database.rst
@@ -15,6 +15,12 @@ Installed Python distributions are repre
 Most functions also provide an extra argument ``use_egg_info`` to take legacy
 distributions into account.
 
+For the purpose of this module, "installed" means that the distribution's
+:file:`.dist-info`, :file:`.egg-info` or :file:`egg` directory or file is found
+on :data:`sys.path`.  If the parent directory of the :file:`dist-info` directory
+of an installed project is for example added to :envvar:`PYTHONPATH`, then it
+will be available in the database.
+
 
 Classes representing installed distributions
 --------------------------------------------
@@ -128,12 +134,21 @@ Functions to work with the database
    for the first installed distribution matching *name*.  Egg distributions are
    considered only if *use_egg_info* is true; if both a dist-info and an egg
    file are found, the dist-info prevails.  The directories to be searched are
-   given in *paths*, which defaults to :data:`sys.path`.  Return ``None`` if no
+   given in *paths*, which defaults to :data:`sys.path`.  Returns ``None`` if no
    matching distribution is found.
 
    .. FIXME param should be named use_egg
 
 
+.. function:: get_metadata(name, use_egg_info=False, paths=None)
+
+   Return an instance of :class:`packaging.metadata.Metadata`.  This function is
+   a shortcut for calling :func:`get_distribution` and getting the ``metadata``
+   attribute of the result; all arguments have the same meaning as
+   :func:`get_distribution`.  Returns ``None`` if no matching distribution is
+   found.
+
+
 .. function:: get_distributions(use_egg_info=False, paths=None)
 
    Return an iterator of :class:`Distribution` instances for all installed
@@ -200,20 +215,23 @@ functions:
 Examples
 --------
 
-Print all information about a distribution
-^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+Printing all information about a distribution
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 
-Given a path to a ``.dist-info`` distribution, we shall print out all
+Given the name of an installed distribution, we shall print out all
 information that can be obtained using functions provided in this module::
 
    import sys
    import packaging.database
 
-   path = input()
+   try:
+       name = sys.argv[1]
+   except ValueError:
+       sys.exit('Not enough arguments')
+
    # first create the Distribution instance
-   try:
-       dist = packaging.database.Distribution(path)
-   except IOError:
+   dist = packaging.database.get_distribution(name, use_egg_info=True)
+   if name is None:
        sys.exit('No such distribution')
 
    print('Information about %r' % dist.name)
@@ -244,7 +262,7 @@ information from a :file:`.dist-info` di
 
 .. code-block:: sh
 
-   $ echo /tmp/choxie/choxie-2.0.0.9.dist-info | python3 print_info.py
+   python print_info.py choxie
 
 we get the following output:
 
@@ -299,11 +317,27 @@ we get the following output:
   * It was installed as a dependency
 
 
-Find out obsoleted distributions
-^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+Getting metadata about a distribution
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 
-Now, we take tackle a different problem, we are interested in finding out
-which distributions have been obsoleted. This can be easily done as follows::
+If you're not interested about the packaging information contained in a full
+:class:`Distribution` object but just want to do something with its metadata,
+you can use the shortcut function :func:`get_metadata`::
+
+   from packaging.database import get_metadata
+
+   info = get_metadata('chocolate')
+   if info is None:
+       print("'chocolate' not found")
+   else:
+       print("keywords for 'chocolate':", info['Keywords'])
+
+
+Finding out obsoleted distributions
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+Now, we tackle a different problem, we are interested in finding out which
+distributions have been obsoleted.  This can be easily done as follows::
 
   import packaging.database
 
diff --git a/Lib/packaging/database.py b/Lib/packaging/database.py
--- a/Lib/packaging/database.py
+++ b/Lib/packaging/database.py
@@ -16,9 +16,10 @@ from packaging.metadata import Metadata
 
 __all__ = [
     'Distribution', 'EggInfoDistribution', 'distinfo_dirname',
-    'get_distributions', 'get_distribution', 'get_file_users',
-    'provides_distribution', 'obsoletes_distribution',
+    'get_distributions', 'get_distribution', 'get_metadata',
+    'get_file_users', 'provides_distribution', 'obsoletes_distribution',
     'enable_cache', 'disable_cache', 'clear_cache',
+    # XXX these functions' names look like get_file_users but are not related
     'get_file_path', 'get_file']
 
 
@@ -538,6 +539,17 @@ def get_distribution(name, use_egg_info=
             return None
 
 
+def get_metadata(name, use_egg_info=False, paths=None):
+    """Return a metadata object for the dist called *name*.
+
+    If no matching distribution is found, returns None.  See
+    get_distribution for the meaning of *use_egg_info* and *paths*.
+    """
+    dist = get_distribution(name, use_egg_info, paths)
+    if dist is not None:
+        return dist.metadata
+
+
 def obsoletes_distribution(name, version=None, use_egg_info=False):
     """
     Iterates over all distributions to find which distributions obsolete
diff --git a/Lib/packaging/tests/test_database.py b/Lib/packaging/tests/test_database.py
--- a/Lib/packaging/tests/test_database.py
+++ b/Lib/packaging/tests/test_database.py
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ from packaging.metadata import Metadata
 from packaging.tests import unittest, support
 from packaging.database import (
     Distribution, EggInfoDistribution, get_distribution, get_distributions,
+    get_metadata,
     provides_distribution, obsoletes_distribution, get_file_users,
     enable_cache, disable_cache, distinfo_dirname, _yield_distributions,
     get_file, get_file_path)
@@ -383,6 +384,32 @@ class TestDatabase(support.LoggingCatche
         self.assertIsInstance(dist, EggInfoDistribution)
         self.assertEqual(dist.name, 'strawberry')
 
+        # TODO add tests for distribution names with spaces and other
+        # characters that get escaped by distinfo_dirname
+
+    @requires_zlib
+    def test_get_metadata(self):
+        name = 'towel-stuff'
+        metadata = get_metadata(name)
+        self.assertIsInstance(metadata, Metadata)
+        self.assertEqual(metadata['Name'], name)
+
+        eggdists = ('bacon', 'banana', 'cheese', 'strawberry')
+
+        # default behavior does not consider legacy egg formats
+        for name in eggdists:
+            self.assertIsNone(get_metadata(name))
+
+        # with use_egg_info set to true, egg and egg-info files and
+        # directories are found
+        for name in eggdists:
+            metadata = get_metadata(name, use_egg_info=True)
+            self.assertIsInstance(metadata, Metadata)
+            self.assertEqual(metadata['Name'], name)
+
+        # test that '' or '.' does not work in a dir with dist-info
+        # built and/or setup.cfg
+
     def test_get_file_users(self):
         # Test the iteration of distributions that use a file.
         name = 'towel_stuff-0.1'