On organizing bookshelves

I know, I know—it's Wednesday and this isn't a Word Nerd post, but October 4–11 marks National Get Organized Week and my love of organizing almost surpasses my love of language, so I'm considering the topic fair game.

I like to think I'm a pretty organized person. Scratch that—a super organized person. With a penchant for color-coding, alphabetizing, and streamlining,  you'd think that bookshelf organization would be a breeze. But for some reason, when it comes to my bookshelf I just can't seem to find an organiztion method that works. Do I sort them by spine color? Group by genre? Arrange alphabetically by author, or should it be by title? Or maybe I should just go from large to small?

Needless to say, National Get Organized Week sounded like the perfect time to re-vamp my bookshelf habits; I turned to the Internet for some inspiration. Below, a round-up of the suggestions I found. I'd love to hear your tips: How do you keep your shelves organized?

• According to Apartment Therapy, uncluttering your bookshelves is the first step. "Give away any books that you don't plan on reading or referencing again, are in the public domain, and can be found in their entirety online," they suggest. 
• If you're anything like the OOM team, you probably own lots—and we mean LOTS—of books. Real Simple recommends mixing and matching, arranging most of your books vertically to save space, but laying large books horizontally to protect their covers.
• Have trouble locating your books once they're shelved? Here are eight cool options for bookshelf labels.
• "Beware of overstuffing" when trying to stylishly organize your bookshelf, warns Readers' Digest. The general rule of thumb: one-third books, one-third accessories, one-third empty space per shelf. (I don't think the number of books I own is conducive to that rule...)
• Organizing books by color is pretty and a little more pleasing to the eye, according to The Washington Post.
• For tips from a librarian, give NPR's "How to Organize a Bookshelf" a listen.

Need some inspiration to get started on a bookshelf makeover of your own? Beautiful examples like this and this should do the trick! Happy organizing!