diff --git a/vortex-session/src/registry.rs b/vortex-session/src/registry.rs
index a7ae8b5b0ad..038334a6f3f 100644
--- a/vortex-session/src/registry.rs
+++ b/vortex-session/src/registry.rs
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ use std::ops::Deref;
 use std::sync::Arc;
 
 use arcref::ArcRef;
-use parking_lot::Mutex;
+use parking_lot::{Mutex, RwLock};
 use vortex_error::VortexExpect;
 use vortex_utils::aliases::dash_map::DashMap;
 
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ impl<T: Clone> Registry<T> {
 ///
 /// ## Upcoming Changes
 ///
-/// 1. This object holds an Arc of Mutex internally because we need concurrent access from the
+/// 1. This object holds an Arc of RwLock internally because we need concurrent access from the
 ///    layout writer code path. We should update SegmentSink to take an Array rather than
 ///    ByteBuffer such that serializing arrays is done sequentially.
 /// 2. The name is terrible. `Interner<T>` is better, but I want to minimize breakage for now.
@@ -79,8 +79,8 @@ impl<T: Clone> Registry<T> {
 pub struct Context<T> {
     // TODO(ngates): it's a long story, but if we make SegmentSink and SegmentSource take an
     //  enum of Segment { Array, DType, Buffer } then we don't actually need a mutable context
-    //  in the LayoutWriter, therefore we don't need a Mutex here and everyone is happier.
-    ids: Arc<Mutex<Vec<Id>>>,
+    //  in the LayoutWriter, therefore we don't need a RwLock here and everyone is happier.
+    ids: Arc<RwLock<Vec<Id>>>,
     // Optional registry used to filter the permissible interned items.
     registry: Option<Registry<T>>,
 }
@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@ pub struct Context<T> {
 impl<T> Default for Context<T> {
     fn default() -> Self {
         Self {
-            ids: Arc::new(Mutex::new(Vec::new())),
+            ids: Arc::new(RwLock::new(Vec::new())),
             registry: None,
         }
     }
@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@ impl<T: Clone> Context<T> {
     /// Create a context with the given initial IDs.
     pub fn new(ids: Vec<Id>) -> Self {
         Self {
-            ids: Arc::new(Mutex::new(ids)),
+            ids: Arc::new(RwLock::new(ids)),
             registry: None,
         }
     }
@@ -123,7 +123,7 @@ impl<T: Clone> Context<T> {
             return None;
         }
 
-        let mut ids = self.ids.lock();
+        let mut ids = self.ids.write();
         if let Some(idx) = ids.iter().position(|e| e == id) {
             return Some(u16::try_from(idx).vortex_expect("Cannot have more than u16::MAX items"));
         }
@@ -139,11 +139,11 @@ impl<T: Clone> Context<T> {
 
     /// Resolve an interned ID by its index.
     pub fn resolve(&self, idx: u16) -> Option<Id> {
-        self.ids.lock().get(idx as usize).cloned()
+        self.ids.read().get(idx as usize).cloned()
     }
 
     /// Get the list of interned IDs.
     pub fn to_ids(&self) -> Vec<Id> {
-        self.ids.lock().clone()
+        self.ids.read().clone()
     }
 }