Books

तैलात् रक्षेत् जलात् रक्षेत् रक्षेत् शिथिलबंधनात्  |
मूर्खहस्ते न दातव्यं एवं वदति पूस्तकम्       ||

Tailaat rakShet jalaat rakShet rakShet shithila-bandhanaat
Murkha-haste na daatavyam evam vadati pustakam

Meaning: Protect me (rakShet) from oil (taila), protect me from water (jala), protect me from loose-binding (shithila-bandhan); do not (na) give me (daatavyam) in the hands (haste) of a fool (murkha) - so says the book (pustaka).

Personifying a book, this shloka tells us various things to take care of a book from. Take care of books from oil, since they leave permanent marks on the pages. We usually have the habit of eating stuff with bare hands whilst reading. It's good to avoid that practice.
Protect books from water, since the pages get torn easily when wet. Also the pages become brittle and flimsy after they dry.
Make sure we handle books in a delicate manner so as not to loosen the binding. If the binding is already weak then we should repair it to make it strong again, or at least treat the book with enough care so as not to further loosen the pages.

Murkha over here means anyone who doesn't understand the value of the book. So we should avoid giving our books to anyone and everyone. This is really very important. Most of us lose our books by lending them to people who not only never read them, but also put them away in places that they themselves don't remember. Our books will stay protected only in the hands of those who value it. We have to be very careful about whom we lend our books and we should also ensure that we get them back.

Books are a symbol of literature, and also a symbol of knowledge. In essence, the poet is also telling us to value and protect knowledge since it's invaluable to our sustainance as well as progress.