The primary objective of the Bureau's training program is to meet current and emerging needs for a workforce with appropriate professional, specialised technical and management skills. A secondary objective is to provide specialised meteorological training to Defence Forces personnel and to the staff of overseas National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs).

To meet these objectives the Bureau of Meteorology Training Centre (BMTC) provides:

• specialised postgraduate meteorological training in operational forecasting for new staff of the Bureau, the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) and overseas NMHSs;
• technical and general training in specialised meteorological support duties and systems for new Bureau technical staff, trainees from overseas, Defence Forces personnel and approved external participants;
• in-service training to maintain professional and technical meteorology-related skills, and to provide management and development training for all categories of Bureau staff;
• curriculum development and the development and delivery of new courses for all training activities, including Computer Aided Learning (CAL) and web-based modules; and
• consultative services on the education and training aspects of major new Bureau projects.

The BMTC also manages the operation of the National Meteorological Library.

INTERNAL TRAINING ACTIVITIES 

During 2004 and 2005, 30 and 22 inductees respectively undertook initial training (training courses are conducted in each calendar year). Of these, 37 were studying the 40-week Graduate Diploma in Meteorology course (including seven from the RAN and ten from overseas), nine were undertaking the 30-week Technical Officer (Observer) course and six the Technical Officer (Engineering) course.

Throughout the year, approximately 500 staff received specialised technical or professional in-service training. This included training in first-in maintenance, electrolysers, autosondes and Digicora III for Technical Officers (Observer); and radar, National Restricted Electrical License (NREL), Digicora III and frontline management for Technical Officers (Engineering). Meteorologists throughout the regions received professional in-service training in the use of Doppler radar data, the National Thunderstorm Forecast Guidance system and competencies for the forecasting of severe thunderstorms, tropical cyclones and fire weather. A five-day Introductory Meteorology course was conducted for non-meteorological staff to provide an improved understanding of the context for their work.

In-house and online training continued to have high take-up rates with more than 850 staff participating in short management development training courses, ranging in length from one day to one week. These courses covered such areas as project management, change management, time management, client service, policy development, presentation and communication skills, and performance management. In addition, a series of seminars was developed to assist the implementation of the Bureau's Staff Performance Management Scheme. More than 1200 staff accessed online training in areas such as APS Values and Code of Conduct, Equal Employment Opportunity, Occupational Health and Safety and the Trade Practices Act.

A Bureau-specific Management Education Program (MEP) was conducted by the Association of Professional Engineers, Scientists and Managers Australia (APESMA) in conjunction with LaTrobe University. The MEP provides formal qualifications at the Certificate and Graduate Certificate levels with 19 staff enrolled during 2004-05. Under the Bureau's Studybank scheme, now in its 14th year, 79 staff enrolled or continued as part-time students. Two staff were awarded scholarships to further their tertiary studies on a full-time basis and another two staff were awarded part-time scholarships.

Other training activities included workshops linked to the Bureau's Radar Network and Doppler Services Upgrade Project (RNDSUP) held in three states to support the introduction of capabilities and new services. Also, Bureau staff provided meteorological courses at RAAF training bases in Pearce (Western Australia) and East Sale (Victoria). Some 230 RAAF pilots, air traffic controllers, navigators and flying instructors undertook meteorological training courses during 2004-05.

In support of the Bureau's corporate strategic objective of commitment to university education in meteorology and related fields, the BMTC maintained strong links with several tertiary education institutions, in particular with Monash University, RMIT University and the University of Melbourne.

The BMTC continued to provide reciprocal lecturing arrangements on specialised graduate-level meteorology courses with Monash University. Owing to the relocation of the Bureau's Head Office during the year, it was not possible to run the one-week Synoptic Laboratory for Monash and Melbourne University students in July. A BMTC staff member provided a course on convection for Monash University postgraduate students.

Bureau Technical Officer (Engineer) trainees undertake fire-fighting training at the Victorian Country Fire Authority's Fiskville training centre

INTERNATIONAL TRAINING ACTIVITIES 

The Bureau maintained its strong involvement in the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Education and Training Program and attended key coordination meetings and training symposia. The BMTC conducted a three-week WMO workshop on Tropical Cyclones and Public Weather Services for 17 NMHS staff from the Asia-Pacific Region, and also contributed to the development of several WMO education and training initiatives covering satellite meteorology and aviation meteorology. In support of the Bureau's International Activities Program, BMTC staff provided workshops and lectures at WMO seminars and conferences in the United States and Malaysia. The Computer Aided Learning in Meteorology (CALMET) conference in the United States covered the latest techniques employed in the development of CAL packages with an emphasis on developing material that could be used within NMHSs, whilst the WMO Education and Training Seminar focused on improving the training skills and knowledge of NMHS trainers in the Asia-Pacific Region.

A joint project with the US Cooperative Program for Meteorological Education and Training (COMET) continued the development of web-based case studies of severe weather. These studies form part of the series of severe weather training modules now used by Bureau forecasters around Australia.

NATIONAL METEOROLOGICAL LIBRARY 

The National Meteorological Library maintains a pre-eminent collection of key meteorological books, reports and journals published in the English language and acts as the national archive for all meteorological books and reports published in Australia. In accordance with its Collection Development Policy, the Library continued to coordinate the collection of reports and journals from other National Meteorological Services.

The National Meteorological Library's main collection is at the Head Office Library in Melbourne with smaller collections held in the Bureau's Regional Offices, the Canberra and Townsville Meteorological Offices, and the Cape Grim Baseline Air Pollution Station, Tasmania. Over the year, 1100 books and reports were added to the Library collection and 379 current journal titles were received, of which 284 were made available in electronic format. The increased range of electronic resources is particularly valuable to Bureau staff outside the Melbourne Head Office. The Library also provides services to other government agencies, universities, organisations with a particular interest in the science of meteorology, and the general public, and has more than 600 registered borrowers Australia wide.

Library staff assisted with the information management aspects of the Bureau's internal and external web sites and continued the development of a database of now more than 1000 meteorological pictures, held in the library catalogue, Meteoric. The Library continued to acquire and archive historical material into its Preservation Collection. Electronic table-of-contents and full-text journal article alerting services continued to be distributed nationally to Bureau staff.

The National Meteorological Library continued to contribute its holdings to the national bibliographic database via the National Library of Australia's Kinetica service, with more than 25,000 holdings now submitted. The library services inter-library loan requests from libraries in Australia and overseas, and is a member of the National Library's Kinetica Document Delivery Service, which facilitates electronic transfer of requests between libraries. The library catalogue, Meteoric, is also made freely available to the general public via the Bureau's Internet site.

The National Meteorological Library located at the Bureau's Head Office in Melbourne.