YES. YES to tagging. My library just recently switched to Encore, which includes a tag cloud on the results page to help you narrow your search and YES, I've never had it as easy to find things. It didn't replace subject headings. We still have those. But it narrowed our headings to a degree that you can enter the broadest search term and narrow it down to EXACTLY the one object you want.
Case in point: I had a student come up to the reference desk and ask for a book about two sisters. And she thinks one was a vampire. She didn't remember the title or the author, but she knew she'd recognize the cover when she saw it. In our old system, I would have gone through hundreds of books trying the find the right one, but when I searched "vampire" in the "youth collection" I was able to narrow the results to "sisters" using the tag cloud, and I found the exact book she was looking for. And that's my story for why tagging is awesome and helpful and why everyone should do it.
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