diff --git a/arrow-array/src/array/struct_array.rs b/arrow-array/src/array/struct_array.rs
index 841d3235f64..fd2647abd83 100644
--- a/arrow-array/src/array/struct_array.rs
+++ b/arrow-array/src/array/struct_array.rs
@@ -67,8 +67,8 @@ impl StructArray {
     }
 
     /// Returns the fields of the struct array
-    pub fn columns(&self) -> Vec<&ArrayRef> {
-        self.boxed_fields.iter().collect()
+    pub fn columns(&self) -> &[ArrayRef] {
+        &self.boxed_fields
     }
 
     /// Returns child array refs of the struct array
diff --git a/arrow-ipc/src/writer.rs b/arrow-ipc/src/writer.rs
index dec44de177f..0497cbe5e47 100644
--- a/arrow-ipc/src/writer.rs
+++ b/arrow-ipc/src/writer.rs
@@ -177,7 +177,7 @@ impl IpcDataGenerator {
         match column.data_type() {
             DataType::Struct(fields) => {
                 let s = as_struct_array(column);
-                for (field, &column) in fields.iter().zip(s.columns().iter()) {
+                for (field, column) in fields.iter().zip(s.columns()) {
                     self.encode_dictionaries(
                         field,
                         column,